A Maryland woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday, May 14 to federal conspiracy and firearms charges in connection with a white supremacist plot to carry out attacks on Baltimore‘s power grid, authorities said.
Knewz.com has learned that as part of her plea agreement, Sarah Beth Clendaniel admitted that she communicated and plotted with Florida resident Brandon C. Russell, founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen, from at least December 2022 to February 2023 to carry out attacks against energy facilities around Baltimore, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
According to prosecutors, Clendaniel and Russell “espouse a white supremacist ideology and advocate a concept known as ‘accelerationism’,” which calls for violent action to bring about social collapse. Russell has also been charged in connection with the plot and is awaiting trial.
“Ms. Clendaniel, a felon, spent months plotting, planning and taking steps to inflict grave damage to Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of her white supremacist ideology,” FBI Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno said in a statement. “Today’s guilty plea highlights the commitment of the FBI to hold individuals accountable for their actions. The FBI will continue to investigate violent threats as the safety and security of all Marylanders remains a priority.”
According to court documents, the pair communicated their plans to a confidential informant. In January 2023, Russell and the informant discussed plans to work with Clendaniel to “coordinate to get multiple [substations] at the same time” in the majority Black city in order to “maximize impact.”
Clendaniel, being a felon, asked the confidential informant to help her obtain a rifle so she could “accomplish as much as possible before June, at the latest.” In conversations, the informant stated that he would be the driver, and she would be the shooter.
Clendaniel told the informant that she planned to target five power substations, including “Norrisville, Reisterstown, and Perry Hall,” and said if they struck a “ring” of substations around Baltimore on the same day they could “completely destroy this whole city.”
“It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully,” she told the informant.
On Feb. 3, 2023, a search warrant was executed at Clendaniel’s residence and multiple firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were recovered.
Clendaniel pleaded guilty to conspiring to damage or destroy electrical facilities in Maryland, and to being a felon in possession of a firearm. She faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a lifetime of supervised release on the conspiracy charge and 15 years on the felon in possession charge. Her sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 3.
“Ms. Clendaniel’s hate-fueled plans to destroy the Baltimore region power grid threatened thousands of innocent lives,” said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron. “But, when law enforcement and the communities we serve are united in partnership, hate cannot win.”
—TMX contributed to this report.
The post Maryland Woman Pleads Guilty to Plotting to Attack Baltimore Power Grid appeared first on Knewz.
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Author: Knewz Staff
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