The leader of a neo-Nazi group is accused along with another woman of planning to attack power stations “It would probably have done damage to this city if we had been able to do it successfully,” the accused said, according to court records. The two face a long prison sentence
A neo-Nazi leader recently released from prison has been arrested again and accused of plotting an attack on the Maryland power grid with a woman he met while incarcerated.
Brandon Russell, 27, and Sara Keldaniel, 34, appeared in federal court in Baltimore on charges of conspiracy to destroy an energy facility, and is facing up to 20 years in prison. “If we can accomplish what I hope, it will be legendary,” CalDaniel said on Jan. 29, according to court documents. She spoke with an undercover federal agent, who had similar conversations with Russell. She also said “it is likely that it would have done damage to this city if we had been able to do it successfully.”
According to prosecutors, their plan was to shoot down five substations serving the Baltimore area. The allegations come after similar attacks on the power grid in North Carolina and Oregon remain unsolved, with the Department of Homeland Security recently warning that the US is in an “elevated threat environment” and that critical infrastructure is among the “potential targets of violence.”
According to the court, one of the defendants described how the explosion of the stations around Baltimore would completely destroy this entire city if we managed to hit them all.” Russell, a former member of the Florida National Guard, is the founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen, which has tried to carry out violent attacks to provoke A race war in the United States Experts say the group, though small, is dangerous because of its influence on bloodshed.
Prosecutors say Russell recommended focusing on transformers because they are “custom made and can take nearly a year to replace.” He also said the attack would be most effective after a winter storm, “when most people are using maximum electricity.”
Kaldaniel told the undercover agent that she was going to die of kidney disease in a few months and just wanted to “get something worthwhile” first. She said Russell, unlike her, “has a lot to lose.”