A Maryland woman was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for conspiring to destroy the Baltimore region power grid, the US Justice Department announced yesterday. Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 36, admitted as part of a plea agreement in May to conspiracy to damage energy facilities.
Clendaniel sought to “completely destroy” the city of Baltimore by targeting five power substations to further her violent white supremacist ideology, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said. Family members revealed her racist beliefs, with her nephew Daniel Clites telling the Associated Press that “She wanted to bring attention to her cause.”
Clendaniel’s co-conspirator, Brandon Russell, was an active neo-Nazi and former convict. They became acquainted through letter exchanges while serving prison sentences in different institutions and developed a romantic relationship thereafter. Their plan was sabotaged by law enforcement before any attacks could be executed.
In a sentencing memorandum, US attorneys emphasized the potential devastation, noting their plans would have permanently disabled significant portions of Baltimore’s electrical infrastructure if not thwarted. Judge James Bredar sentenced Clendaniel to 18 years in US District Court for the District of Maryland.
Documentation showed that Clendaniel and Russell were advocates of ‘accelerationism,’ a white supremacist ideology promoting violent actions as necessary to precipitate societal collapse. Law enforcement uncovered their communications with an informant, which led to a search warrant at Clendaniel’s residence, revealing various firearms and ammunition.
For more details, you can read the full article on Ars Technica.