Race Day Live BALTIMORE — A Florida man who founded a neo-Nazi group has been convicted of plotting an attack on Maryland’s power grid.
Federal prosecutors say Brandon Russell, 29, conspired with his former girlfriend, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, to damage electrical substations around Baltimore.
Their goal was to cause massive blackouts in the mostly Black city, spreading chaos and fear.
The FBI arrested them in February 2023 before they could carry out their plans. After a four-day trial in federal court, a jury found Russell guilty of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. It took them less than an hour to reach a verdict.
Russell will be sentenced later. In court, he wore a light blue jacket and glasses, regularly speaking with his attorney. He seemed cheerful and engaged despite the serious charges.
Russell was once a leader of the Atomwaffen Division, a violent neo-Nazi group whose name means “atomic weapon” in German.
He was already known to law enforcement. Years ago, police found explosives and neo-Nazi propaganda in his Florida home.
He had previously pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered destructive device and was sentenced to five years in prison.
During this trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Russell was the mastermind of the new attack plot.
They played a recording of him urging secrecy, using a racial slur, and telling a confidential informant not to discuss the plan.
The informant, who met Russell through the messaging app Telegram, was supposed to help Clendaniel get a gun for the attack.
Prosecutor Joseph Baldwin called Russell “the team leader taking care of his warrior,” referring to Clendaniel. He argued that Russell’s real goal was to start a race war by shutting down power in Baltimore.
However, Russell’s defense attorney, Ian Goldstein, claimed his client was being set up. He argued that Russell never planned to go to Maryland and had no direct role in carrying out the attack.
He admitted Russell supported white supremacy but insisted he wasn’t an active conspirator.
“He was a cheerleader—as terrible as that sounds,” Goldstein told the jury. “That’s what he was, and that’s not illegal.”
But the jury didn’t buy the defense. The judge told them that to convict, they had to find that Russell had “engaged, advised, or assisted” in the crime. They quickly decided he was guilty.
Russell first came to law enforcement’s attention in 2017 after a shocking double murder in Tampa. Police found him crying outside his apartment in military gear.
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His roommate, Devon Arthurs, had killed two other roommates. Arthurs later told detectives that Russell had explosives at home and planned terrorist attacks on power plants, nuclear reactors, and synagogues.
Investigators later found posters, books, and flyers promoting white supremacist ideology. One flyer read, “Don’t prepare for exams, prepare for a race war.”
Russell, who was in the Florida National Guard at the time, pleaded guilty to possession of explosives and was sentenced to five years.
While in prison, Russell met Clendaniel. They exchanged letters, bonded over their extremist beliefs, and continued their relationship after being released. She also had a long history of white supremacist ideology.
Clendaniel pleaded guilty in September 2023 and was sentenced to 18 years in prison for her role in the power grid plot.
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