Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 36, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to damage or destroy Baltimore’s regional power grid, according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday.
In the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Clendaniel, a resident of Catonsville, Md., pleaded guilty.
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The defendant has admitted guilt to charges of conspiracy and felony firearms possession. If convicted, she could potentially face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and an additional 15 years for the firearms violation.
Clendaniel, if granted parole, would be subject to a lifetime of supervised release. Her sentencing is set for September 3rd.
According to the Department of Justice, Clendaniel, a white supremacist, is accused of conspiring with Brandon Russell, a Florida resident, to cause harm or destruction to the power grid that serves the greater Baltimore area.
According to the Department of Justice, Russell, 28, is an Orlando neo-Nazi whom Clendaniel met in 2018.
According to a news release on February 6, 2023, Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general for national security, stated that Russell and Clendaniel were motivated by their ideology of racially motivated hatred and had plotted to attack local power grid facilities.
From around December 2022 to early February 2023, Clendaniel, Russell, and several others conspired to launch an assault on the power generation facilities that provided electricity to the greater Baltimore area.
U.S. Attorney of Maryland, Erek Barron, expressed grave concern over the alleged planned attack, stating that it posed a significant threat to the lives of many Marylanders. He emphasized that if successful, the attack would have resulted in thousands of people being left without power and exposed to harsh conditions.
They arrested the duo on February 3, 2023, and brought them to the U.S. District Court in Baltimore for arraignment.
According to the Department of Justice, Russell and Clendaniel aimed to expedite a societal and governmental collapse by disabling the electrical power grid that serves the greater Baltimore area.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Baltimore has been a black-majority area since the 1970s, with approximately 62% of its population being black and around 32% being white.
As a result of her previous convictions, which include robbery and attempted robbery, she is prohibited by law from owning or obtaining firearms.
