Neo-Nazi leader found guilty in plot to attack Baltimore power grid

By Ryan Patrick Jones

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A neo-Nazi leader accused of plotting to attack Baltimore's power grid has been found guilty of conspiring to damage an energy facility, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Brandon Russell, 29, of Orlando, Florida and an associate were arrested in February 2023 after the FBI thwarted their plan with the help of a confidential informant.

Evidence presented at trial showed that between November 2022 and that month, Russell conspired to attack transformers within electrical substations "in furtherance of his racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist beliefs," the Justice Department said in a statement.

Russell posted links to open-source infrastructure maps and described how a small number of attacks on substations could cause a "cascading failure," the department said.

He recruited a Maryland-based woman, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, to carry out the attacks in order to interrupt and impair the power grid in Baltimore, Maryland's largest city, the department said.

Clendaniel identified five substations to target and Russell attempted to secure a weapon for her. The planned attacks would have caused damage of more than $75 million, the department said.

Russell is a convicted felon and founder of a neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division that works toward "ushering in the collapse of civilization," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks U.S. hate groups.

He was previously sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of an unregistered destruction device and the improper storage of explosive materials.

Russell is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17. He could face up to 20 years in prison.

Clendaniel was sentenced to 18 years in prison in September 2024.

Russell's lawyers declined to comment on the verdict.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Saad Sayeed)