MARYLAND, BALTIMORE — Bahamian Brandon Russell, a self-described neo-Nazi, and former St Andrews School student, was charged yesterday alongside a Maryland woman with conspiring to attack Baltimore’s power grid.
According to reports, federal authorities arrested Russell and Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 34, over plans to execute a series of “sniper attacks” on five electrical substations in Maryland.
At a press conference yesterday, authorities claimed Russell wanted to target the grid during cold weather “when most people are using max electricity.”
Clendaniel reportedly told a confidential informant that “it would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully.”
Russell is a dual citizen of the United States and The Bahamas, and served in the Florida National Guard.
He is the founder of the Florida-based neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which was recently renamed to the National Socialist Order and is focused on civilizational collapse.
Russell was reportedly on probation for a previous conviction after he was found in possession of an unregistered explosive device in 2017.
He came under scrutiny after two of his roommates were killed by another roommate in a shooting at his home and investigators found bomb-making materials in his garage.
He was sentenced to five years in a US federal prison in 2018 and was reportedly on supervised release when he was arrested.
