Maryland Woman Sentenced in Plot to Attack Maryland’s Power Grid

Baltimore, MD News (9/26/2024) – On September 25, 2024, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, a 35-year-old resident of Catonsville, Maryland, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Clendaniel was convicted of conspiring to damage or destroy electrical facilities in Maryland. Clendaniel also received a concurrent 15-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm, along with three additional years of supervised release.

The sentencing, handed down by Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar, concluded a case that involved a planned attack on Maryland’s electrical grid. Clendaniel’s actions, motivated by a white supremacist ideology, aimed to target multiple power substations with the intention of causing widespread outages and chaos in the Baltimore area.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Erek L. Barron, condemned the attack, stating, “Such cowardice, designed to disrupt and endanger the lives of Maryland’s citizens, will not be tolerated. My Office remains committed to protecting the security and well-being of the community by prosecuting such conduct to the full extent of the law.”

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland highlighted the seriousness of the threat, saying, “Sarah Beth Clendaniel sought to ‘completely destroy’ the city of Baltimore by targeting five power substations as a means of furthering her violent white supremacist ideology. The Justice Department will continue to aggressively counter, disrupt, and prosecute those who seek to launch these kinds of hate-fueled attacks.”

Clendaniel’s plan was thwarted by a joint investigation involving the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized that the work of these agencies prevented a potentially catastrophic attack, stating, “Her plan failed thanks to the great work of the FBI and our law enforcement partners.”

According to court documents, Clendaniel had conspired with Brandon C. Russell, a Florida resident awaiting trial on similar charges. The two shared an extremist belief known as “accelerationism,” a white supremacist ideology that advocates for violent action to trigger societal and governmental collapse. Their plot, which emerged in late 2022, involved targeting five specific power substations around Baltimore with the goal of causing an extensive blackout and crippling the region’s infrastructure.

Through encrypted communications, Clendaniel and Russell developed their plan, which was uncovered through the cooperation of a confidential human source (CHS). Clendaniel had detailed her intentions to hit substations near Norrisville, Reisterstown, and Perry Hall, Maryland. She believed that disabling these substations could “completely destroy this whole city,” as she described in one of her messages to CHS.

Clendaniel’s plot included a request for firearms and equipment to carry out the attack. In early 2023, she sent detailed instructions to CHS about the weapons she would need and began identifying specific locations to target. On February 3, 2023, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at her residence, where they recovered firearms and ammunition, despite her status as a convicted felon.

Clendaniel’s criminal history includes convictions for robbery in 2006 and 2016, further compounding the seriousness of her offenses.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen O. Gavin and Michael Aubin. The FBI’s Baltimore Field Office led the investigation, ensuring the protection of Maryland’s critical infrastructure.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland also highlighted its participation in the Department of Justice’s “United Against Hate” initiative, which aims to foster trust between law enforcement and marginalized communities by encouraging the reporting of hate crimes and other related incidents.

Story by multiple RFHC contributors