Sarah Beth Clendaniel, a 36-year-old woman from Catonsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to damage or destroy electrical facilities in the state. Court documents reveal that Clendaniel became acquainted with Brandon C. Russell, a Florida resident currently awaiting trial on similar charges, in 2018. Both individuals espouse white supremacist ideologies and advocate for a concept known as “accelerationism.”
Accelerationism is rooted in the belief that the current system is beyond repair and lacks a viable political solution, necessitating violent action to precipitate societal and government collapse. From December 2022 through February 2023, Clendaniel conspired with Russell and others to disrupt energy facilities involved in electricity transmission and distribution, aiming to cause significant interruption and impairment of the Baltimore regional power grid.
As part of her guilty plea, Clendaniel admitted that she communicated and planned over encrypted communication applications (ECA) to carry out attacks against energy facilities. The plans began to take shape on January 12, 2023 when Clendaniel confirmed her support for an attack on the Baltimore Region power grid.
During conversations spanning from January 14-18, 2023, Clendaniel revealed her location near Baltimore and confessed to being a felon who had previously attempted to obtain a rifle. She asked a confidential human source (CHS-1) to purchase a rifle for her within weeks so she could "accomplish as much as possible before June."
On January 29, 2023, Clendaniel shared with CHS-1 her plan to target five substations around Baltimore. She believed that if they hit several substations in one day, it would "completely destroy this whole city." During this conversation, she sent CHS-1 links showing the locations of five specific Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) electrical substations.
Russell also discussed the attack plans with CHS-1, including how to ensure it was executed correctly and cause maximum damage. They believed that attacking these substations would serve their accelerationist agenda and contribute to societal breakdown.
On February 3, 2023, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Clendaniel’s residence and recovered various firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. As a convicted felon, federal law prohibits Clendaniel from possessing these items.
Clendaniel pleaded guilty to conspiracy and felony possession charges. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and 15 years for the felon in possession charge, followed by potential lifetime supervised release for the conspiracy charge. Sentencing is scheduled for September 3.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen O. Gavin and Michael Aubin for the District of Maryland with assistance from the Department of Justice’s National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.