Neo-Nazi group leader sentenced to 20 years in prison for planned Maryland power grid attack

The Associated Press
August 7, 2025, 4:49 PM

BALTIMORE (AP) — The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring with his girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs.

Brandon Russell, 30, was convicted by a jury earlier this year. Prosecutors presented evidence detailing his longstanding affiliation with white supremacist causes and his recent efforts to organize “sniper attacks” on electrical substations around Baltimore.

During a sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon in federal court in Baltimore, U.S. District Judge James Bredar excoriated the defendant for his reprehensible views, saying Russell was clearly the brains behind the operation, which sought to precipitate societal collapse by targeting the energy infrastructure of a majority-Black city.

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Several years ago, Russell co-founded the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which is German for “atomic weapon.” … This wasn’t his first run-in with law enforcement. In 2017, police responded to a 2017 double homicide at a Tampa apartment building and found Russell outside crying, dressed in military fatigues. One of his roommates had killed the other two, officials said. During a search of the house, police found a stash of highly explosive materials and a cache of neo-Nazi signs, posters, books and flags. Russell pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device and improper storage of explosives.

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