Brandon Clint Russell

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

A convicted neo-Nazi terrorist who founded one of the nation’s most violent extremist groups has been sentenced for plotting to destroy Maryland’s power grid — and attempting to “completely lay this city to waste,” federal prosecutors announced.

Brandon Clint Russell, 30, of Orlando, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for conspiring to damage or destroy electrical facilities in Baltimore and across the Maryland region, according to federal officials.

Russell is the founder of Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi organization established in 2015 that has been linked to multiple violent plots and is considered a domestic terror threat by federal authorities. 

According to court records, between November 2022 and Feb. 3, 2023, Russell led a plan to carry out targeted attacks on critical infrastructure in Maryland. 

As part of his plot, he recruited Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 37, of Catonsville, to help execute the plan. 

The goal, prosecutors said, was to damage transformers at electrical substations in an effort to create a “cascading failure” and blackout the Baltimore region.

Russell reportedly shared open-source maps of local infrastructure, described how a coordinated series of small-scale attacks could cause mass disruption, and attempted to secure a weapon for Clendaniel to use during the assault.

Clendaniel told Russell that attacking multiple substations in a single day would "completely destroy this whole city," according to federal prosecutors. 

Sarah Beth Clendaniel

Sarah Beth Clendaniel

Department of Justice

She identified five substations as targets and claimed that “a good four or five shots through the center of them” would achieve the intended result. She also said it “would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully.”

Investigators estimated the intended financial impact of the plot would have exceeded $75 million.

Clendaniel was sentenced earlier this year to 18 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for her role in the conspiracy. 

Her arrest and prosecution were previously covered by Daily Voice.

“Russell allowed hatred to drive him and his co-conspirator to plot a dangerous scheme that could have harmed thousands of people,” US Attorney Kelly Hayes said. “The sentence imposed today reflects the gravity of Russell’s egregious conduct and his ongoing threat to public safety. 

"This conviction underscores our unwavering commitment to dismantling violent extremist threats and holding accountable anyone who dares to conspire to endanger the lives of others.”

Federal law enforcement, including agents from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Baltimore and Tampa, disrupted the plot before it could be carried out. 

FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William DelBagno added: “Swift and thorough coordination from our law enforcement partners through the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force disrupted this significant threat to Maryland."