Catonsville woman pleads guilty to alleged plot to destroy Baltimore’s power grid
By Greg Ng
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (WBAL) — A Catonsville woman accused of plotting to destroy Baltimore’s power grid with her alleged neo-Nazi boyfriend entered a guilty plea Tuesday.
According to court documents, Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Russell, of Florida, who also faces federal charges in this investigation, espoused a white supremacist ideology and advocated a concept known as “accelerationism.”
Authorities said “accelerationism” is based on a white supremacist belief that the current system is irreparable and without an apparent political solution, and therefore, violent action is necessary to precipitate societal and government collapse.
Court documents allege the couple conspired from December 2022 through February 2023 to damage energy facilities to significantly interrupt Baltimore’s power grid.
As part of her guilty plea, the government said Clendaniel admitted to communicating and planning with Russell to carry out attacks against energy facilities.
The government alleges Clendaniel told a confidential source on Jan. 29, 2023, that they would target substations in Norrisville, Reisterstown and Perry Hall. The government alleges Clendaniel 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.”
Prosecutors said a search warrant was executed at Clendaniel’s residence in Catonsville, where they found firearms and ammunition. Clendaniel was prohibited from possessing firearms because she is a convicted felon out of Cecil County.
Maryland U.S. Attorney Erek Barron and William DelBagno, the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Baltimore Field Office, released a statement announcing the plea.
“Ms. Clendaniel’s hate-fueled plans to destroy the Baltimore region power grid threatened thousands of innocent lives,” Barron said in the statement. “But, when law enforcement and the communities we serve are united in partnership, hate cannot win.”
“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,” DelBagno said in the 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.”
Clendaniel faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 15 years on the felon in possession charge, followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release for the conspiracy charge. Sentencing is scheduled for September.
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