Feds arrest 2 in a ‘racially motivated’ plot to KO Baltimore’s power grid
A Maryland woman and a neo-Nazi Florida man conspired to take down Baltimore’s power grid and leave thousands in the cold and dark out of”racially motivated hatred,” federal prosecutors say.
Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 34, of Catonsville, Md., and Brandon Clint Russell, 27, of Orlando, were arrested Friday and were scheduled to appear in court Monday in their respective states.
The two allegedly planned to attack several electrical substations around Baltimore, the Justice Department said Monday. It was not clear whether their scheme had a chance of succeeding, and there was no indication that they had carried out their plans or managed to in inflict any damage.
“Driven by their ideology of racially motivated hatred, the defendants allegedly schemed to attack local power grid facilities,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen said in a statement. “The Justice Department will not tolerate those who threaten critical infrastructure and imperil communities in the name of domestic violent extremism.”
The complaint described Russell as a longtime neo-Nazi with previous plans to launch nefarious attacks on U.S. infrastructure.
He allegedly encouraged people to short out power transformers with Mylar balloons, which are known to cause explosions when they hit power lines , and advocated doing so during times of highest electricity grid usage. He also posted links to infrastructure maps showing substation locations and described how to cause a “cascading failure” with numerous small attacks happening at the same time, the Justice Department said.
Clendaniel allegedly collaborated with Russell over months, discussing which rifle she would use and saying at one point that they could hit enough substations in one day to “completely destroy this whole city.” She also outlined the number of shots she thought it would take.
“It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully,” Clendaniel told a confidential informant.
She and Russell each face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
Attacks on electrical infrastructure have escalated across the country in recent months. In late December, 14,000 people lost electricity when state power stations were vandalized. Two people were arrested for that last month. On Dec. 4, someone shot out two North Carolina substations, leaving 45,000 without power for days in what authorities said was a criminal act. The state, county and Duke Energy collaborated to offer a $75,000 reward, with no arrests so far.