White supremacist sentenced to 18 years for plot to 'lay waste' to Baltimore power grid

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a white supremacist to 18 years in prison for conspiring to attack Baltimore’s power grid in hopes of provoking a race war.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel pleaded guilty in May to plotting with Brandon C. Russell to destroy electrical infrastructure in the city. According to the Justice Department (DOJ), Clendaniel and Russell, who is awaiting trial, subscribe to the theory of accelerationism, a belief popular among extremists that fomenting chaos and conflict will lead to a broader societal upheaval, often but not exclusively along racial lines.

Clendaniel and Russell, using encrypted communications, told an FBI source between 2022 and 2023 that they planned to attack five Baltimore substations at once, per the DOJ. They picked targets that formed a circle around the city, meaning they would “completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully,” the department said Clendaniel told an associate.

In January 2023, Clendaniel, a convicted felon, asked the source to buy a rifle for her as part of her goal to be the “shooter” in the planned attack, according to the DOJ.

“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. She will now spend the next 18 years in federal prison,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to aggressively counter, disrupt, and prosecute those who seek to launch these kinds of hate-fueled attacks that target our critical infrastructure, endanger entire cities, and threaten our national security.”

Clendaniel’s and Russell’s plot is one of several by far-right extremists targeting the electrical grid that have recently been uncovered. Though none have yet had the desired effect, they take advantage of real vulnerabilities within the grid that sociologists say could lead to considerable damage and loss of life even if only partially successful.

The Justice Department estimates the Baltimore plot would have done up to $75 million in damages if successfully enacted.