WHAT IS IT? The national power grid
An increase in severe weather events, attacks on power plants, and the drive for green energy highlight the importance of a resilient national power grid.
The well-known Florida neo-Nazi leader arrested along with a Maryland woman Monday in a plot to attack five substations in the Baltimore area was previously arrested after one of his roommates murdered two other roommates during a dispute over conversion to Islam, according to charging documents.
Brandon Clint Russell, 27, of Orlando, Florida, and Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 34, of Catonsville, Maryland, are charged with conspiracy to destroy a power facility, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland announced Monday. and the FBI Field Office in Baltimore. Each could face a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars if convicted of that charge.
But according to the FBI affidavit, it’s not the first time one of the defendants has faced prison time.
Russell, the leader of a neo-Nazi group to which he and his roommates allegedly belonged, pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device and improper storage materials in violation of federal law. He was sentenced on January 9, 2018 to 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
FBI ARRESTS MAN AND WOMAN WITH ‘EXTREMIST’ VIEWS IN ALLEGED PLOT TO ATTACK THE POWER GRID TARGETING 5 SUBSTATIONS
Brandon Russell in a June 7, 2017 mugshot from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)
Those charges stemmed from the May 2017 murders of two of his roommates in Tampa, Florida. Russell was not home at the time a third roommate, Devon Arthurs, allegedly murdered the others. two, according to the FBI affidavit. Special Agent Patrick W. Straub.
Arthurs allegedly told investigators that he had “recently converted from neo-Nazi beliefs to Islam” and murdered his roommates because they “intimidated him for being a Muslim.”
The affidavit says that Arthurs also stated that before killing his roommates, they had been planning to attack the infrastructure of the US power plant.”
Erek L. Barron, the United States Attorney for Maryland, said at a news conference on February 6, 2023, that Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Clint Russell were indicted for conspiracy to destroy a power facility. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
During the subsequent response to the killings and investigation, police found “neo-Nazi paraphernalia, an image of Oklahoma City shooter Timothy McVeigh, the high explosive hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (“HMTD”), and, among other items, numerous precursor of explosives belonging to Russell,” Straub wrote.
During an interview, Russell allegedly admitted to subscribing to “National Socialist” or Nazi beliefs, founding his own local National Socialist group called “Atomwaffen,” that his roommates were Atomwaffen members and that he made HMTD, the affidavit says. .
A woman believed to be Sarah Beth Clendaniel in tactical gear containing a swastika, holding a rifle and with a pistol holstered on her left leg. (FBI)
Law enforcement knows that the Atomwaffen Division (AWD) is a racially or ethnically based US-based violent extremist group (RMVE) with cells in multiple states, Straub wrote.
NC SUBSTATION SABOTAGE: FBI INVESTIGATES WHETHER ATTACKS ON POWER GRID IN RANDOLPH AND MOORE COUNTY ARE RELATED
The group’s targets have included racial minorities, the Jewish community, the LGBTQ community, the US government, journalists and critical infrastructure, according to the FBI.
AWD reportedly has “international ties,” the affidavit adds.
After Russell and other AWD members were arrested, the group changed its name to the National Socialist Order (NSO), the affidavit says.
Thomas J. Sobocinski, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Baltimore Field Office, announced the arrests of Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Clint Russell during a press conference in Baltimore on February 6, 2023. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
In connection with the new charges announced Monday, Russell is charged with conspiring to carry out attacks against critical infrastructure, specifically electrical substations, in support of his “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist beliefs” from at least June 2022 until present.
As alleged, Russell encouraged the use of Mylar balloons to short-circuit a power transformer and, in a conversation on October 25, 2022, Russell encouraged an attack to be carried out “when there is higher voltage on the grid “, such as “when everyone is using electricity to heat or cool their homes.”
Sarah Beth Clendaniel is seen in a photo included in the affidavit of Special Agent Patrick W. Straub of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (“JTTF”) in the Baltimore Division of the FBI. (FBI)
In his conversations about encrypted communications apps, Russell posted links to open source infrastructure maps, which included the locations of electrical substations, and described how a small number of attacks on substations could cause a “cascading failure,” he says. the complaint.
Russell also discussed how to maximize the impact of the planned attack by attacking multiple substations at the same time.
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Clendaniel, a Maryland-based woman, allegedly aided in the plan and spoke about the rifle she wanted for the attack. In later conversations, he also allegedly stated that if they hit five electrical substations in the same day in the Baltimore area, they would “utterly destroy this whole city” and that “a good four or five shots in the center of them… should do let that happen.” She further added, “[i]It would probably completely destroy this city permanently if we were able to do it successfully,” the complaint reads.
Exelon said the power grid was not interrupted because the police acted before the perpetrators could carry out their plan.
