A neo-Nazi leader who was convicted of plotting to attack Baltimore’s electrical grid in what federal law enforcement officials described as a plan motivated by his white supremacist beliefs was sentenced on Thursday to the maximum possible term of 20 years in prison.
The man, Brandon C. Russell, 30, of Orlando, Fla., is a founding member of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group, prosecutors said.
In December 2022, a federal complaint said, Mr. Russell used encrypted messaging apps to detail his plans to damage the electrical grid, telling a confidential F.B.I. informant that he had recruited Sarah Beth Clendaniel of Catonsville, Md., as a possible accomplice.
Ms. Clendaniel identified five electrical substations in Baltimore to target, and Mr. Russell tried to help Ms. Clendaniel get a gun and pointed out vulnerabilities in the grid, prosecutors said. He wrote in text messages that it would be best to strike “when there is greatest strain on the grid,” such as “when everyone is using electricity to either heat or cool their homes,” according to prosecutors.
Ms. Clendaniel said that striking five substations in rapid succession with a “good four or five shots” would “completely destroy this whole city” by setting off a cascade of power failures and prompting destructive civil disturbances, according to a federal complaint.
Both were arrested and charged in February 2023 with conspiring to destroy an energy facility. Ms. Clendaniel was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. She pleaded guilty to the charges in May 2024 and was sentenced in September to 18 years in prison.
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