Overview

• Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar handed down the maximum sentence after Russell was found guilty in February on conspiracy charges to damage Maryland’s electrical infrastructure.
• His co-defendant, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, was previously sentenced to 18 years in prison with lifetime supervised release for her participation in the scheme.
• Evidence showed Russell and Clendaniel conspired from November 2022 to February 2023 to carry out sniper attacks on Baltimore‐area substations.
• Court records indicate Russell used encrypted messaging apps to share maps of substation sites and calculate how to trigger a cascading failure that could inflict over $75 million in losses.
• The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, working with field offices in Baltimore and Tampa and local law enforcement partners, infiltrated the plot and averted the planned assault.