FBI Charges Baltimore Woman, Florida Man in Connection With Plot to Attack Maryland’s Power Grid
They planned on “conducting critical infrastructure attacks, including statements about sniper attacks against substations, and how conducting a small number of attacks on electrical substations could cause a ‘cascading failure.'”
The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore arrested and charged Sarah Beth Clendaniel of Catonsville, MD, and Brandon Clint Russell of Orlando, FL, with a plan to attack Maryland’s power grid via five substations.
FBI Special Agent Patrick Staub’s criminal complaint explains why he believes there is probable cause to charge Clendaniel and Russell “with conspiracy to damage an energy facility, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1366(a) (Destruction of Energy Facility).
The complaint states that user “Homunculus” (who is Russell) spoke to an FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS-1) on an encrypted communication application #1 (ECA-1) throughout much of 2022. The conversations included “conducting critical infrastructure attacks, including statements about sniper attacks against substations, and how conducting a small number of attacks on electrical substations could cause a ‘cascading failure.'”
Homunculus then directed the CHS-1 to a person he knew in Maryland. Nythra88 (who is Clendaniel) introduced herself to CHS-1 on ECA-1. She said, “she had a terminal illness related to her kidneys and was unlikely to live more than a few months.” She also said she is a felon and couldn’t buy a rifle so she encouraged CHS-1 to get her weapons. Her motivation for the attack was to “accomplish something worthwhile” before she died.
Around January 29, CHS-1 spoke to Clendial on ECA-2 via her alias on that, @kali1889:
On or about January 29, 2023, Kali sent CHS-1 via ECA #2 a link to the publicly available webpage “Open Infrastructure Map” (https://openinframap.org) and instructed CHS-1 to “look at Baltimore and see if you can figure out what I want to do.” She also stated she wanted “to try to do 5 in one day.” CHS reported that he/she understands that to mean Nythra seeks to attack five electrical substations on the same day.
On or about January 29, 2023, Nythra told CHS-1 during a recorded voice conversation on ECA #1 that the five substations she planned to target included: “Norrisville, Reisterstown, and Perry Hall.” Nythra described how there was a “ring” around Baltimore and if they hit a number of them all in the same day, they “would completely destroy this whole city.” Nythra added that they needed to “destroy those cores, not just leak the oil…” and that a “good four or five shots through the center of them . . . should make that happen.” She added: “It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully.” CHS-1 asked if it would accomplish a “cascading failure” and Nythra replied: “Yes . . . probably” and that the attack targets are all “major ones.” Nythra added that the most difficult target that they would have to do together has “fire walls on three sides.”
According to the complaint, Russell is an admitted Nazi who formed the group Atomwaffen:
An Atomwaffen member killed a gay, Jewish college student in 2019; another adherent killed his girlfriend’s parents for opposing his Nazi views. Atomwaffen followers have also threatened and harassed journalists, African American churches and Jewish organizations.
A former Atomwaffen member named Devon Arthurs, who lived with Russell in Tampa, killed two of their roommates in 2017 and subsequently told authorities they had been planning attacks on U.S. nuclear plants and power lines.
During the response to the 2017 murders, the police found a picture of Timothy McVeigh and the high explosive hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD).
The government charged Russell with possessing an unregistered destructive device and improper storage of explosive materials. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 60 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Russell was on supervised release during the plans for Maryland.
Clendaniel also has a criminal past:
Clendaniel was previously arrested in a string of robberies in 2016 in Cecil County, in which police said she wielded a machete and made off with cash and cigarettes. Court records indicate she received a sentence of nine years, and three years of probation. Prior to that, she received three years in jail, while pregnant, for robbing a convenience store where she had worked four days earlier until she was fired, according to a report at the time from the Cecil Whig.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
When the regime line wasn’t “we hate America” this didn’t happen.
*sigh*
“Look! Here are the Nazis!”
How long before we find out there were 12 undercover agents and informants for every one criminal involved? And WTH is happening with the attacks that DID happen on sub-stations last year?
At least as respects the attacks in Washington state, they were carried out by a couple of felons who wanted to cut the power to businesses they intended to rob. Not politically motivated at all.
Except the political motivations to flood the streets with criminals.
A Federal judge ordered that criminal mastermind to be released with an ankle monitor so he could get drug treatment.
Every crime being committed in Wa is by someone who Inslee released early or has since refused to arrest or prosecute.
What about all the attacks on chicken houses/manufacturing?
Probably paid for by the cabel
“Eat mor chikin”
Pushback from the chickens against CFA? Have we entered the middle of a war between the beefies and the fowlies?
Thumbs up on that!
Not just the attacks, investigate the change in feed formula by commercial feed manufacturers that is causing chickens not to lay eggs. Extremely suspicious that this happened simultaneously across several manufacturers.
We happened to be in a good position to check out the veracity of these reports, as we have in our tack shed a pile of old empty Dumor chicken feed bags that go back several years (we reuse them as trash bags). We found no change in the ingredient lists between the old bags and the bags currently for sale at the local Tractor Supply. So if you see this claim repeated, demand visual proof.
Thanks for the smile…do you think they will every LIST the actual ingredients any longer? Bless your heart.
THAT is a fact. Animal feed, poultry and cattle farms, food processing plants, growing facilities, etc., There have been over 120 since the Coup. FACT. We have an enemy in the White House.
About entrapment
1. We have a woman who is an opportunistic thief who has shown a penchant for violence in the past
2. We have a man who has both a history of violence and nazism
Federal Entrapment rules have the caveat that it can only be done against someone already inclined to do what they got caught up in by an FBI agent.
A protestor who just got to angry once on one day because he had been listening to the same rage inducing speech for weeks? At least hypothetically no.
An ideological criminal who formed an organization with members engaged in murder with a side kick who is a ideology free thief who is willing to use violence to steal?
Yes
We need to remember that just because the FBI does evil doesn’t mean it is always doing evil.
However we do need to hope for state investigations of Atomwaffen to see if the FBI is helping it indoctrinate people and recruit new members. If it is than that is unforgivable.
The FBI is EVIL
Which refutes what part of what I said?
FBI, never trust them
The Throckmorton Razor : is count everything a liar says in their argument, even if it may support your position. The words are not used to inform but to
deceive.
Minuteman’s Corollary: “Discount everything a liar says in his argument, even if it may support your position.”
To repeat
“However we do need to hope for state investigations of Atomwaffen to see if the FBI is helping it indoctrinate people and recruit new members. If it is than that is unforgivable.”
You don’t think from that I am already suspicious of the FBI?
We need a real investigation. If this Atomwaffe group is real it would be exposed and unable to trick anyone into the rabbit hole, and if it is fake the FBI gravy train for spreading the disgusting ideology ends.
The bigger issue is the vulnerability of our energy infrastructure and the growing willingness of radicals to risk attacking it.
Well duh. What do you think the Chinese balloon was taking pictures of?
Rain puddles. It was a weather balloon after all.
China got some good some really good intell on temperature, humidity and barometric pressure.
Did they think our weather channel was government disinformation?? They could get millions more current and historical details from public sources all free of cost.
By the way, that was a very good answer.
I am personally far more concerned with environmental weirdos attacking energy infrastructure. When these jabronies get tired of gluing themselves to roads or chaining themselves to things to little effect and decide more vigorous acts are required they will become very dangerous.
I doubt the Chinese are overly interested in what is occurring at the local power co-op. These are static sites using technology and processes with predictable actions that are basically already well known. They can use a half dozen or so EMP and largely destroy the whole grid for far less effort.
We will have nothing while the Clinton cabal cackles at us.
Used to be that people cared enough to punch back at bullies, but we are clearly immasculated to the point that the left knows no one will dare bloody their noses and are acting with impunity.
Let Billy Ray and Junebug catch one in the act.
A balloon might be a good way to deliver metal (or some types of carbon fiber) strips across our infrastructure, to knock out our electrical grid without setting off a nuke. Maybe.
I’ll coin the hashtag/headline now, and the media can pay me for it later:
Tinsel Terror!
It was a recycled balloon from the Kansas Fair. Chinese balloons are only good for 25o miles before they fall apart.
Atomwaffen? More like CIA.
Entrapment is going to be delicious when the pendulum swings…
DOJ will slap them on the hand and send them home to do more mayhem
And, of course, now it’s time for all of us to doubt the good news because our gov’t has covered themselves with so much muck in the last 20 years that we simply can’t trust them. I really hate this version of reality.
And, yes, so they caught someone “planning” something. Now, where are those folks who have actually done something?
I didn’t see exactly why they wanted to destroy Baltimore like this although after driving through there I understand the motivation. What a hell hole.
Broadcast mainstream news could not stop saying “White supremacist” and “White nationalist.”
However, when will I hear Black, Yellow or Brown nationalist and/or supremacist mentioned when those groups commit a crime?
Now do center-city violence, and obstructing building public safety facilities.