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Florida neo-Nazi leader with Tampa ties plotted to disable Baltimore power grid, feds say

Brandon Russell was sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2018 after bomb-making materials were found in his Tampa garage.
 
Brandon Russell has been arrested on charges connected to a plot targeting Baltimore's electric grid. He was previously sentenced in Tampa federal court to prison time for having bomb-making materials.
Brandon Russell has been arrested on charges connected to a plot targeting Baltimore's electric grid. He was previously sentenced in Tampa federal court to prison time for having bomb-making materials.
Published Feb. 6, 2023|Updated Feb. 6, 2023

BALTIMORE — A Maryland woman spent months conspiring with a neo-Nazi leader with Tampa ties to plan an attack on Baltimore’s power grid, hoping to further their racist mission, law enforcement officials said Monday.

The plan was thwarted when both suspects were arrested last week, adding to a growing list of similar cases as authorities warn the American electrical grid could be a vulnerable target for domestic terrorists.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 34, was working with Brandon Russell, who founded a small Florida-based neo-Nazi group, to plan a series of “sniper attacks” on Maryland electrical substations, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. The document also included a photo of a woman authorities identified as Clendaniel wearing tactical gear that bore a swastika and holding a rifle.

It wasn’t immediately clear Monday whether either suspect had a lawyer to speak on their behalf. There was no evidence the plot was carried out or any record of damage to local substations.

U.S. Attorney Erek Barron praised investigators for disrupting hate-fueled violence.

“When we are united, hate cannot win,” he said at a news conference announcing the charges.

Authorities declined to specify how the planned attack was meant to fulfill a racist motive but suggested the defendants wanted to bring attention to their cause. Russell had discussed targeting the grid during cold weather “when most people are using max electricity,” authorities alleged.

According to the complaint, Clendaniel was planning to target five substations situated in a ring around Baltimore, a majority-Black city mostly surrounded by heavily white suburban areas.

“It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully,” Clendaniel told a confidential informant she met through Russell, according to the complaint. She was most recently living outside the city in surrounding Baltimore County, officials said.

Clendaniel told the informant she was experiencing terminal kidney failure. With just a few months to live, she wanted to “accomplish something worthwhile” before her death, according to the complaint. Many of their conversations focused on how she could get a weapon to carry out the attacks.

Investigators also found a document in her Google records that they compared to a manifesto. “I would sacrifice (asterisk)(asterisk)everything(asterisk)(asterisk) for my people to just have a chance for our cause to succeed,” it stated, including references to Hitler and other terrorists, according to the complaint.

“Identifying and disrupting terrorist plots, both foreign and domestic, is one of the FBI’s top priorities,” agent Thomas Sobocinski said at Monday’s news conference. “To those extremists looking to disrupt society and cause chaos in our communities, we will not … tolerate this.”

Russell, who founded an obscure neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division, has a long history of ties to racist extremist ideologies and past plans to disrupt American infrastructure systems, according to the complaint. Atomwaffen Division leaders recently renamed themselves the National Socialist Order. The group’s mission is civilizational collapse, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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Federal authorities said Russell, 27, landed on their radar after a 2017 shooting left two of his roommates in Tampa dead. Local law enforcement officers found Russell at the scene, dressed in a military uniform and crying over the news. A third roommate, Devon Arthurs, who was later arrested, told investigators he committed the killings to thwart a terrorist attack by Atomwaffen, which included plans to target U.S. infrastructure. He said Russell knew nothing about the killings, having just returned home from his Florida National Guard duties.

Arthurs is charged with two counts of first-degree, premeditated murder in the deaths of the roommates, Andrew Oneschuk and Jeremy Himmelman. All three were at one time members of Atomwaffen, the white supremacist group Russell admitted to starting.

Arthurs is still awaiting trial in connection with the killings as his competency has been questioned.

Bomb-making materials -- including the highly explosive substance HMTD, several pounds of ammonium nitrate and homemade fuses -- were found in Russell’s garage at the time the killings were discovered.

Russell ultimately pleaded guilty to explosives charges and served five years in federal prison and was on supervised release at the time of his recent arrest, officials said.

The attorney who represented him in that case didn’t immediately respond to a message Monday.

Recent attacks and threats to the U.S. power grid have heightened concerns about protecting critical infrastructure.

In Washington state, two men were arrested last month on charges they vandalized substations in attacks that left thousands without power around Christmastime. One suspect told authorities they hoped the power outage would allow them to break into a business and steal money.

A gunfire attack in December on substations in central North Carolina also caused power outages affecting tens of thousands of customers. Law enforcement officials have said the shooting was targeted, though no arrests have been made. Lawmakers there have proposed legislation to toughen penalties for intentionally damaging utility equipment.

An account linked to Russell recently sent the confidential informant a video about the North Carolina attack, discussing the substations targeted and their geographic areas, according to the complaint.

Baltimore Gas and Electric, which controls the local power grid, thanked law enforcement on Monday and said there was no damage to substations, service wasn’t disrupted and there are currently no known threats to facilities.

“We have a long-standing partnership with law enforcement and state and federal regulators of the grid to secure critical infrastructure,” the company said in a news release. “This work is even more important now as threats have increased in recent years.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also praised the investigative efforts that succeeded in “preventing a potentially catastrophic attack on several of Maryland’s electrical substations.”

Russell and Clendaniel corresponded years ago while incarcerated in separate correctional facilities, authorities said. Officials declined to specify the nature of their relationship or how they met, but the complaint says they discussed having children together. Text messages linked to Russell included a statement that “going to prison was worth it because I might not have met you otherwise.”

Their relationship dated to at least 2018. Last May, the complaint says, Clendaniel shipped an online order — a 34-piece “Professional Pocket Picking Hand Tool” — to Russell’s Orlando address.

Clendaniel has a long criminal history in Maryland, including a 2006 robbery conviction in Cecil County, a largely rural area about an hour northeast of Baltimore. She pleaded guilty to the charge after authorities accused her of brandishing a butcher knife and demanding money from a convenience store clerk.

Then 18, Clendaniel was pregnant at the time of her conviction. Her attorney cited mental health issues and said she was receiving methadone treatment, according to The Cecil Whig. She pleaded guilty in 2016 in connection with another robbery case.

Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring and Brian Witte in Annapolis contributed to this report.

BALTIMORE — A Maryland woman conspired with a Florida neo-Nazi leader to carry out an attack on several electrical substations in the Baltimore area, officials said Monday.

The arrest of Sarah Beth Clendaniel, of Baltimore County, was the latest in a series across the country as authorities warn electrical infrastructure could be a vulnerable target for domestic terrorists. It wasn’t immediately clear Monday whether she had a lawyer to speak on her behalf.

She conspired with Brandon Russell, recently arrested in Florida, to disable the power grid by shooting out substations via “sniper attacks,” saying she wanted to “completely destroy this whole city,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. The complaint also included a photo of a woman authorities identified as Clendaniel wearing tactical gear that bore a swastika and holding a rifle.

Russell in 2018 was sentenced to five years in prison, which was to be followed by three years of supervised release, on charges associated with him having explosives in his Tampa apartment’s garage.

The bomb-making materials -- including the highly explosive substance HMTD, several pounds of ammonium nitrate and homemade fuses -- were discovered during a murder investigation involving Russell’s roommate, Devon Arthurs.

Arthurs is charged with two counts of first-degree, premeditated murder in the deaths of two other Tampa roommates, Andrew Oneschuk and Jeremy Himmelman. All three were at one time members of Atomwaffen, the white supremacist group Russell admitted to starting.

Arthurs is still awaiting trial as his competency has been questioned.

It was unclear Monday where in Florida Russell, a former National Guardsman, had been arrested on the Baltimore charges. Jail records in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties did not show him booked into those jails recently.

U.S. Attorney Erek Barron praised investigators for disrupting hate-fueled violence in the Baltimore case.

“When we are united, hate cannot win,” he said at a news conference announcing the charges.

Authorities declined to specify how the planned attack was meant to fulfill a racist motive but suggested the defendants wanted to bring attention to their cause.

Russell has a long history of ties to racist groups and Nazi beliefs, as well as past plans to attack U.S. infrastructure systems, according to the complaint. It also wasn’t clear Monday whether he had a lawyer.

In recent months, concerns about protecting the country’s power grid have been heightened by attacks, or threatened attacks.

In Washington state, two men were arrested last month on charges that they vandalized substations weeks earlier in attacks that left thousands without power around Christmastime. One suspect told authorities they did it so they could break into a business and steal money.

A gunfire attack in December on substations in central North Carolina caused power outages affecting tens of thousands of customers. Law enforcement officials have said the shooting was targeted, though no arrests have been made. Lawmakers there have proposed legislation to toughen penalties for intentionally damaging utility equipment.

Baltimore Gas and Electric, which controls the local power grid, thanked law enforcement and said Monday that there was no damage to any substations, that service wasn’t disrupted and that there are currently no known threats to facilities.

“The substations are not believed to have been targeted out of any connection to BGE or Exelon, or because of any particular vulnerability,” BGE said in a news release. “We have a long-standing partnership with law enforcement and state and federal regulators of the grid to secure critical infrastructure; this work is even more important now as threats have increased in recent years.”

By LEA SKENE and ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press. Times Staff Writer Chris Tisch contributed to this report.