A Catonsville, Maryland man was sentenced to prison on Wednesday after he conspired to damage or destroy an electrical facility near Baltimore, Maryland, where he and a co-conspirator planned to carry out white supremacist causes intended to destroy the community.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 36, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, followed by supervised release for the rest of her life, after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy. His co-conspirator, Brandon C. Russell of Florida, also faces charges of conspiracy to damage or destroy electrical facilities in Maryland and is awaiting trial.
“Those who seek to attack our nation’s critical infrastructure will face the full force of the U.S. Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Sarah Beth Clendaniel sought to ‘destroy’ the city of Baltimore by targeting five electrical substations as a means to further her violent ideology of white supremacy. She will now spend the next 18 years in federal prison. The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively fight, harass, and prosecute those who seek to launch these hate-driven attacks that target our critical infrastructure, endanger entire cities, and threaten our national security.”
Clendaniel and Russell became acquainted with each other in 2018, and both support the ideology of “accelerated” white supremacy. The concept is based on white supremacy that believes the current system is beyond repair and without a political solution. Therefore, acts of violence are needed to bring about the collapse of the government, the DOJ said.
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a woman believed to be CLENDANIEL wearing tactical gear bearing a swastika, holding a rifle and a pistol in a holster on her left leg. (F.B.I.)
Between December 2022 and February 2023, Clendaniel, Russell and others allegedly planned to attack energy facilities in the Baltimore area to disrupt the distribution of electricity to the city.
When Clendaniel pleaded guilty, he admitted to communicating and planning to carry out attacks on energy facilities, using encrypted communication applications.
Both Clendaniel and Russell allegedly told a confidential human source (CHS-1) about plans to attack Baltimore’s power grid, the DOJ said. The plan began to come together on January 12, 2023, when CHS-1 and Russell discussed the attack, which involved hitting several substations at the same time.
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Sarah Beth Clendaniel appears in another photo included in an affidavit by Special Agent Patrick W. Straub, of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (“JTTF”) at the FBI Baltimore Division. (F.B.I.)
Clendaniel used the screen name “Nythra88” to send a message to CHS-1, confirming that he supported the attack.
Clendaniel told sources he lived near Baltimore, was a felon, and had unsuccessfully tried to get a gun. Clendaniel asked CHS-1 to buy him a rifle for the next few weeks to “finish something worthwhile.”
During the conversation, Clendaniel told the source he had identified several possible locations, adding that the source would have to be the driver while he would be the shooter.
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Sarah Clendaniel, 34, is one of two people suspected of planning to attack five substations in Maryland. (Credit: Maryland State Police) (Maryland State Police)
On Jan. 29, 2023, Clendaniel told sources he planned to target five substations, including Norrisville, Reisterstown, and Perry Hall, the DOJ said. He explained how there was a “ringing” throughout the city of Baltimore, and that if they hit several substations on the same day, “it would destroy the whole city.”
The substation Clendaniel planned to work on was what he called “the core,” saying “a good four or five shots down the middle of it” should “destroy the core, not just the oil leak . . .”
“It will probably wipe out this city permanently if we can do it successfully,” Clendaniel told the confidential source.
BALTIMORE POWER GRID ATTACK SUSPECT HAS ‘WISH LIST OF GUNS, SUPPLIERS to ‘Destroy this whole city’
FILE – This June 7, 2017, photo provided by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office shows Brandon Russell. A Maryland woman conspired with a Florida neo-Nazi leader to carry out an attack on several electrical substations in the Baltimore area, officials said on February 6, 2023. Sarah Beth Clendaniel, Baltimore County, conspired with Russell, recently arrested in Florida, to shut down the power grid by taking substation through a “sniper attack,” saying he wanted to “destroy this whole city,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. ((Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File))
The DOJ also said that during conversations between Clendaniel and a confidential source, Clendaniel sent five links to an “Open Infrastructure Map,” showing the locations of five specific Baltimore, Gas and Electric (BGE) substations. BGE uses substations as Clendaniel targets, to generate and distribute energy.
While three of the five substations are in Norrisville, Reisterstown and Perry Hall, the other two are in Baltimore City.
The DOJ claims Russell and Clendaniel believed that taking the five substations would “accelerate” and help harm the community.
Law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Clendaniel’s home on February 23, 2023, and eventually found multiple firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Since Clendaniel is a felon convicted of robbery in 2006 and attempted robbery in 2016, he is not allowed to possess firearms.
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He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and felony possession of a firearm.
