White supremacist guilty in plot to disrupt Baltimore power grid

Racquel Bazos, Baltimore Sun on Feb 3, 2025

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BALTIMORE — A 29-year-old white supremacist has been found guilty of trying to disrupt the Baltimore power grid in 2023.

Brandon Clint Russell, of Orlando, Florida, stood trial for charges of conspiracy to damage an energy facility, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years. Russell and his codefendant, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, of Catonsville, planned to shoot at several power substations in the Baltimore area, according to prosecutors.

Russell is believed to have founded the white supremacist, neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division, which “is often credited with invigorating a younger generation toward hate-related violence and racially motivated terrorism across North America and Europe,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Defense attorney Ian Goldstein told The Baltimore Sun his client plans to appeal. Russell’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled, he said.

Russell and Clendaniel were going to target substations in Norrisville, Perry Hall and Reisterstown plus two others around Baltimore in order to “completely destroy this whole city,” Clendaniel wrote in a message to a confidential source, according to investigators.

“The intended monetary loss associated with the planned attacks would have exceeded $75 million,” a release from the Department of Justice said in September, when Clendaniel was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to damage an energy facility and illegal possession of a firearm in May.

This case was not Russell’s first encounter with federal law enforcement. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered destructive device and unlawful storage of explosive material after authorities found a cooler in his garage containing explosives. During questioning, he admitted he manufactured the explosive material, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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