Woman admits to working with neo-Nazis to plan attack on Baltimore’s electrical infrastructure

A woman from Maryland has admitted to working with a neo-Nazi leader from Florida to make a plan to attack the power grid in Baltimore.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel, who is 36 years old and from Catonsville, and her friend Brandon Russell thought that shooting at five electric stations in Baltimore would cause chaos in society. This information was included in a court document when Clendaniel admitted she was guilty.

Judge James Bredar will decide how long Clendaniel will be in trouble on September 3rd.

Clendaniel was accused last year with Russell, who lives in Orlando, Florida and helped start a neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division. Russell admitted to explosives charges and went to prison for five years because he was involved in a deadly shooting at the apartment he shared with Atomwaffen’s other founder.

Clendaniel and Russell started writing letters to each other in 2018 while they were in different prisons. They fell in love and stayed together even after they were out of jail, according to the court documents.

Clendaniel admitted to doing two things wrong: planning to damage electrical facilities and having a gun even though it’s against the law for him to have one. Conspiring can lead to 20 years in prison. Having a gun can lead to 15 years in prison.

Russell used to be in the Florida National Guard and is accused of planning to damage electrical facilities. He is waiting for his trial.

In May 2017, one of Russell’s friends, Devon Arthurs, shot and killed two other friends at their house in Tampa, Florida. The police found Russell at the place, wearing a military outfit and crying because of the news.

Arthurs admitted to killing his roommates because he said they were planning a terrorist attack. Russell didn’t get charged for the killings, but he admitted to collecting explosive materials at the apartment building.

Clendaniel and Russell believed in white supremacy and wanted to cause mass violence to make society fall apart. Both of them talked about their plans to attack the power grid with someone who works for the government in January 2023, prosecutors said.