WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department has charged a neo-Nazi leader and his associate with plotting to attack Baltimore’s power grid, a plan the FBI foiled with the help of a confidential informant .
Brandon Russell, of Orlando, Fla., and Sarah Clendaniel of Maryland, were arrested last week, officials said at a Monday briefing, and have been charged with conspiracy to damage an energy facility.
Russell is a convicted felon and founder of a neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division that is working to ‘here the collapse of civilization’, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups. Americans.
Russell had previously been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of an unregistered destruction device and improper storage of explosive materials.
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At the time of his arrest, he was still on probation, according to the FBI.
The FBI alleged on Monday that the conspiracy was racist but did not provide details. About 62% of Baltimore city residents are black, according to U.S. Census data.
Representatives for Clendaniel and Russell could not immediately be reached for comment.
“Clendaniel and Russell conspired and took action to shoot down several electrical substations in the Baltimore area in an effort to ‘completely destroy this entire city,’ but those plans were halted,” said Erek Barron, the US Attorney for the District of Maryland, in the press. Report.
Russell first came under suspicion in 2017, when his former roommate Devon Arthurs was arrested for murder.
During his interview with the FBI, Arthurs said his housemates were plotting to attack American infrastructure, including power lines in Florida.
The information led to Russell’s arrest and subsequent conviction.
Then, beginning at least June 2022, a confidential FBI informant began receiving encrypted messages from a user known as “Homunculus” who encouraged the informant to attack electrical substations, indicates the complaint.
In those communications over the next few months, Homunculus called for an attack “when the network is most stressed,” and noted that follow-up attacks could still lead to a “cascading failure costing billions of dollars.”
In January 2023, as their communications continued, a third user known as @kali1889 joined the conversation. She said she had compiled a list of potential targets, including Baltimore, noting that the location was “literally like an artery of life.”
According to the complaint, the @kali1889 account was traced to Clendaniel, who also has an extensive criminal record, including a previous conviction for armed robbery.
“Homunculus,” meanwhile, has been traced back to Russell, the FBI said.
Baltimore Gas and Electric, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (EXC.O), which owns the targeted substations, said none of its equipment was damaged or had any failures.
The arrests followed recent vandalism of electrical substations that left thousands of people without power in other states, including North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington.
The motives for these attacks were not known.
Thomas Sobocinski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Baltimore, said the FBI was unaware of any connection between the two people arrested in the alleged Baltimore plot and attacks elsewhere on electrical infrastructure.
In Tacoma, Washington, four electrical substations were vandalized around Christmas, leaving more than 14,000 customers without power. Two men have been arrested in connection with the attacks.
Also in December, a North Carolina utility reported outages of what local authorities said were orchestrated shootings that federal law enforcement investigated. Duke Energy Corp (DUK.N), which supplied power to the region, said at the time that a total of 45,000 people had lost power.
The FBI also investigated shots fired near a power plant in South Carolina a few days later.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
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