A Catonsville, Maryland, woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to damage and destroy electrical facilities near Baltimore, a crime she and her co-conspirators said was motivated by white supremacy to promote social disintegration. was planning.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a release that 36-year-old Sarah Beth Clendaniel has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, and co-conspirator Brandon C. Russell of Florida is awaiting trial on the same charges. It was announced that there was.
Clendaniel and Russell met in 2018 and both advocated a white supremacist ideology called “accelerationism.” This concept is based on white supremacists who believe that the current system is beyond repair and that there is no political solution. Therefore, an act of violence is necessary to cause the collapse of the government, the Justice Department explained.
From December 2022 to February 2023, Clendaniel, Russell, and others allegedly planned to attack energy facilities in the Baltimore area and disrupt the city’s power supply.
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A woman, believed to be Sarah Beth Clendaniel, is seen holding an ammunition clip, wearing tactical gear and posing with a rifle. (FBI)
When he pleaded guilty, Clendaniel admitted that he used encrypted communications applications to communicate and plan attacks on energy facilities.
According to the Justice Department, Clendaniel and Russell both allegedly told a confidential source (CHS-1) about their plans to attack the Baltimore power grid. Plans began to come together on January 12, 2023, when CHS-1 and Russell discussed an attack that would involve attacking multiple substations simultaneously.
Krendaniel sent a message to CHS-1 using the screen name “Nythra88” confirming his support for the attack.
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Sarah Beth Clendaniel (left) is seen in another photo included in an affidavit from the FBI’s Baltimore Division’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (“JTTF”). (FBI)
Mr. Clendaniel told a source who lived near Baltimore that he was a felon and that he had tried unsuccessfully to obtain a rifle. Clendaniel asked CHS-1 to purchase the rifles in the coming weeks to “accomplish something worthwhile.”
Through conversations, Clendaniel told the source he had identified several possible target locations, adding that the source needed to be the driver and he needed to be the shooter.
According to the Justice Department, Clendaniel told sources on January 29, 2023, that he planned to target five electrical substations, including Norrisville, Reisterstown and Perry Hall. She explained how there was a “ring” around Baltimore City and that if they attacked several electrical substations on the same day, “this entire city would be completely destroyed.”
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Sarah Beth Clendaniel is one of two people suspected of planning attacks on five electrical substations in Maryland. (Maryland State Police)
The substation Clendaniel was planning to remove was what she called the “core,” and she said, “If you shoot four or five rounds in the center, not only will the oil leak out, but the core will be destroyed.” Stated.
“If it succeeds, the city will probably be completely devastated forever,” Clendaniel is quoted as saying by a confidential source.
The Department of Justice also alleges that during conversations between Clendaniel and confidential sources, Clendaniel sent five links to “open infrastructure maps” and identified specific data from Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE). He said he showed the locations of five substations. BGE uses substations similar to those targeted by Clendaniel to produce and distribute energy.
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A 2017 photo provided by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office shows Brandon Russell. Sarah Beth Clendaniel of Baltimore County, Maryland, conspired with Russell to attack power substations in a “sniper attack,” saying they “wanted to completely destroy this entire city,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. It is said that it shot through the area and disabled the power grid. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, via AP/File)
Three of the five substations were located in Norrisville, Reisterstown, and Perry Hall, and the other two were in Baltimore City.
The Justice Department alleges that Mr. Russell and Mr. Clendaniel believed that removing these five substations would constitute “accelerationism” and lead to the collapse of society.
Law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at the Clendaniel residence on February 23, 2023, ultimately recovering various firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Clendaniel is a convicted felon for robbery in 2006 and attempted robbery in 2016, so he is illegally allowed to possess a firearm.
She pleaded guilty to conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Clendaniel is scheduled to be sentenced on September 3, and could face up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and up to 15 years on the possession charge.
She also faces a lifetime of supervised release on the conspiracy charge.
