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2023-02-07 -Lurid Crime Tales-
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FBI arrests man, woman with 'extremist' views in alleged power grid attack plot targeting 5 substations
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Reads like 'filler' news.
| Heartiest congratulations to the FBI, who’ve caught two people who were locked up in prison, unable to act, but appear to have nothing concrete on those who actually did the deed these two emailed about. |
[FoxNews] Sarah Beth Clendaniel, of Maryland, and Brandon Clint Russell, of Florida, charged out of Baltimore in alleged energy grid attack plot
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.
| Once again the FBI informant is the target’s BFF, and is told all. |
Russell is an alleged neo-Nazi figure who authorities say posted locations of substations.
| 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. |
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.
If they hit a number of them all in the same day, they "would completely destroy this whole city," and that a "good four or five shots through the center of them … should make that happen," Clendaniel allegedly said. She further added, "[i]t would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully."
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 planned attack threatened lives and would have left thousands of Marylanders in the cold and dark," Barron said in a statement. "We are united and committed to using every legal means necessary to disrupt violence, including hate-fueled attacks."
"The threat posed by domestic violent extremists is evolving and persistent," Sobocinski said. "The FBI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement and private sector partners to identify and disrupt any potential threat to the safety of our citizens."
"The accused were not just talking but taking steps to fulfill their threats and further their extremist goals. Russell provided instructions and location information," Sobocinski added at a press briefing on Monday. "He described attacking the power transformers as the greatest thing somebody can do."
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.
Russell allegedly posted links to open-source maps of infrastructure, which included the locations of electrical substations, and he described how a small number of attacks on substations could cause a "cascading failure," according to court documents. Russell also allegedly discussed maximizing the impact of the planned attack by hitting multiple substations at one time.
Clendaniel, in collaborating on a plan to carry out the attacks, conspired to secure a weapon and identified five substations she planned to target, according to court documents.
Russell, who founded the neo-Nazi
 ...adherents of a philosophy that was seen even at the time as pure evil, which makes them either consciously and purely evil, or attention-seeking ratbags. Pick one, or both....
group called Atomwaffen Division, has a long history of ties to racist bad boy ideologies and past plans to disrupt American infrastructure systems, according to the complaint.
Atomwaffen Division leaders recently renamed themselves the National Socialist Order. The group’s mission is civilizational collapse, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Federal authorities said Russell, 27, landed on their radar after a 2017 shooting left two of his roommates dead. Local law enforcement officers found Russell at the scene, dressed in a military uniform and crying over the news. A third roommate, who was later arrested, told Sherlocks he committed the killings to thwart a terrorist attack by Atomwaffen, which included plans to target US infrastructure. He said Russell knew nothing about the killings, having just returned home from his Florida National Guard duties.
That explains the military uniform. Doesn't he know there's no crying in baseball neo-naziing?
Russell ultimately pleaded guilty to explosives charges after authorities found bomb-making materials in the garage. He served five years in federal prison and was on supervised release at the time of his recent arrest, officials said.
Recent attacks and threats to the US power grid have heightened concerns about protecting critical infrastructure.
In Washington state, two men were arrested last month on charges they vandalized substations in attacks that left thousands without power around Christmastime. One suspect told authorities they hoped the power outage would allow them to break into a business and steal money.
A gunfire attack in December on substations in central North Carolina also caused power outages affecting tens of thousands of customers. Law enforcement officials have said the shooting was targeted, though no arrests have been made. Lawmakers there have proposed legislation to toughen penalties for intentionally damaging utility equipment.
Russell and Clendaniel corresponded years ago while incarcerated in separate correctional facilities, authorities said. Officials declined to specify the nature of their relationship or how they met, but the complaint says they discussed having children together. Text messages linked to Russell included a statement that "going to prison was worth it because I might not have met you otherwise."
Their relationship dates to at least 2018.
Clendaniel has a long criminal history in Maryland, including a 2006 robbery conviction in Cecil County, a largely rural area about an hour northeast of Baltimore. She pleaded guilty to the charge after authorities accused her of brandishing a butcher knife and demanding money from a convenience store clerk.
Then 18, Clendaniel was pregnant at the time of her conviction. Her attorney cited mental health issues and said she was receiving methadone treatment, according to The Cecil Whig. She pleaded guilty in 2016 in connection with another robbery case. 
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Posted by Skidmark 2023-02-07 00:00||
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Posted by Skidmark 2023-02-07 07:20||
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Posted by Gromble Dribble4342 2023-02-07 08:34||
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Posted by Skidmark 2023-02-07 16:16||
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Posted by Super Hose 2023-02-07 16:59||
2023-02-07 16:59||
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