A neo-Nazi leader and a Maryland woman planned to attack electrical substations, which form the interface between the distribution grid and transmissions systems, around Baltimore in an attempt to permanently “lay this city to waste,” according to the FBI.
Authorities arrested Sarah Beth Clendaniel, a 34-year-old woman from Maryland, and Brandon Clint Russell, a 27-year-old from Florida who leads his local neo-Nazi group, on Feb. 3 and charged them with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility. In the unsealed criminal complaint, the FBI presented evidence of the duo’s extensive plans to carry out the attack, including securing weapons and specifying substations they wanted to target.
U.S. Attorney Erek Barron said in a statement that an attack like the one allegedly plotted by Clendaniel and Russell put lives on the line.
“This alleged planned attack threatened lives and would have left thousands of Marylanders in the cold and dark,” Barron pointed out. “We are united and committed to using every legal means necessary to disrupt violence, including hate-fuelled attacks.”
In the criminal complaint, Clendaniel told an FBI informant in January that she was a felon and had a terminal illness related to her kidneys. Given that she only had a few months left to live, Clendaniel stated that she “accomplish something worthwhile” before she died, which apparently included attacking five substations in one day within the next month.
Read the article by Jody Serrano in Gizmodo.