Pair plotted to ‘Destroy Baltimore’ by attacking grid
WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement officials have arrested two people accused of conspiring to “completely destroy Baltimore” in what they described Monday as a racist plot to demolish the power grid in a predominantly Black city.
Sarah Clendaniel, 27, of Catonsville, Md., and Brandon Russell, 34, of Orlando, Fla., planned to inflict “maximum harm” by targeting facilities operated by Baltimore Gas and Electric, which serves 1.2 million customers in central Maryland, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
While prosecutors suggested the arrests did not appear linked to recent attacks on the electrical grid in North Carolina, Washington state and Oregon, Russell is active in a neo-nazi group called Atomwaffen that discussed attacks on electrical and nuclear facilities in 2017 in Florida. He was released in August from federal prison after a conviction for bomb making.
“Russell provided instructions and location information,” Thomas J. Sobocinski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’S field office in Baltimore, said at a news conference. “He described attacking the power transformers as the greatest thing somebody can do.”
Clendaniel, who was responsible for carrying out the attacks, boasted that she wanted to “lay this city to waste,” Sobocinski said, adding that local, state and federal law enforcement agencies disrupted the plot before it could be carried out.
The charges came a few days after the FBI offered two $25,000 rewards for information on those responsible for shooting and damaging two substations in Moore County, North Carolina, on Dec. 3 and for targeting another substation in Randolph County, North Carolina, on Jan. 17. The attack in Moore County caused 45,000 people to lose power, some for five days.
Russell, who began an email correspondence with Clendaniel when both were behind bars, advised her to carry out an attack “when there is greatest strain on the grid,” like “when everyone is using electricity to either heat or cool their homes,” prosecutors said.
There is no indication the Maryland plot was related to other attacks or plans, Sobocinski said Monday.
The charges came as researchers and homeland security officials have warned that the energy grid, and electrical substations in particular, has become a popular target for far-right extremists.