The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group was convicted Monday of conspiring with his former girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs.
Brandon Russell, 29, encouraged Sarah Beth Clendaniel to carry out a series of “sniper attacks” on electrical substations around Baltimore that could have caused significant damage to the regional power grid, according to federal prosecutors. Their goal was to create chaos in the majority-Black city, prosecutors say.
The two were arrested in February 2023 — before the plans were executed.
After hearing about four days of testimony in federal court in Baltimore, the 12-person jury deliberated for less than an hour. They found Russell guilty of one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility, the only charge he faced.
Russell will be sentenced at a later date.
He co-founded the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which is German for “atomic weapon,” several years ago in Florida.
This wasn’t his first run-in with law enforcement. Russell previously pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device and improper storage of explosive materials after investigators searched his home and found a stash of highly explosive materials and a cache of neo-Nazi signs, posters, books and flags.
During closing arguments Monday afternoon, prosecutor Joseph Baldwin recounted trial testimony, including from a confidential informant who got connected with Russell through the social media app Telegram. Russell then introduced Clendaniel and the informant, hoping the person could help her obtain a firearm to use in the attack, according to prosecutors.
“He was the team leader taking care of his warrior,” Baldwin told the jury.
Russell’s attorney downplayed his involvement in the plot, calling the case “a setup from the very beginning.”
Russell was in Florida the entire time with no plans to travel to Maryland and actively assist in carrying out the attack, attorney Ian Goldstein said. Russell may have supported efforts to disrupt modern society and restore white supremacy, but he wasn’t a co-conspirator in this case, Goldstein said during his closing argument.
“He was a cheerleader — as terrible as that sounds,” Goldstein said. “That’s what he was, and that’s not illegal.”
