FBI arrests man, woman with 'extremist' views in alleged power grid attack plot targeting 5 substations

FoxNews.com ^ | February 6, 2023 | Danielle Wallace, David Spunt, Jake Gibson

[House Atreides]

The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office officials in Baltimore announced they had arrested two individuals, a man and a woman, with extremist views who were allegedly attempting to attack the power grid in Maryland.

FBI officials told reporters they believe this was a "real threat" that had been thwarted.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 34, of Catonsville, Maryland, and Brandon Clint Russell, 27, of Orlando, Florida, are charged through a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility, Erek L. Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, and Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski, of the FBI Baltimore Field Office, announced Monday.

Clendaniel spoke to an FBI informant about her plan just last week, according to authorities. Russell is an alleged neo-Nazi figure who authorities say posted locations of substations.

Clendaniel allegedly told an FBI confidential source that she planned to target five substations including in Norrisville, Reisterstown and Perry Hall, according to an affidavit by Special Agent Patrick W. Straub, of the Joint Terrorism Task Force ("JTTF") in the FBI Baltimore Division….

… The affidavit reveals the two defendants were in separate prisons for past crimes and communicated online. In messages, Clendaniel allegedly referenced Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Hitler. She was in a Maryland prison for robbing convenience stores with a machete. Russell was in prison for holding bomb making materials.…

… This plot is not related to but comes on the heels of several power grid attacks in North Carolina, Washington, and Oregon late last year.

As alleged in the affidavit, Russell conspired to carry out attacks against critical infrastructure, specifically electrical substations, in furtherance of Russell’s "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist beliefs" from at least June 2022 to the present.

[Kathy in OC]

This Fox News article is light on details, for some reason. The group Russell founded advocated the idea of lone wolf violence, admired Charles Manson, and they hoped that taking out the power for months would result in war, even a race war, and possibly bring about another Great Depression

[Kathy in OC]

They’re not in jail or prison

[Twotone]

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