White supremacist admits plot to destroy Baltimore power grid, cause mayhem

A Maryland woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to plotting to destroy the Baltimore power grid as part of an extremist white supremacist ideology that promotes government collapse.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Russell planned to shoot down five Baltimore substations last year in an attempt to shut down the city's entire power grid and cause widespread mayhem, federal prosecutors said. They inadvertently exposed their operation to federal agents after colluding with an FBI informant, who recorded conversations detailing the plot.

“It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully,” Clendaniel told the informant, according to court records.

Clendaniel, who pleaded guilty Tuesday, said she wanted to "completely destroy this whole city" and was planning to target five situated in a "ring" around Baltimore, court documents said. Russell is allegedly part of a violent extremist group that has cells in multiple states, and he previously planned to attack critical infrastructure in Florida. He is also charged in the plot and awaiting trial.

“Ms. Clendaniel’s hate-fueled plans to destroy the Baltimore region power grid threatened thousands of innocent lives,” said U.S. Attorney Erek Barron. “But, when law enforcement and the communities we serve are united in partnership, hate cannot win.”

Concerns have grown in recent years about a surge in attacks on U.S. substations tied to domestic extremism as civil rights groups also track more hate groups across the nation.

FBI informant foiled power grid attack

Russell and Clendaniel were communicating while they were both incarcerated in separate facilities since at least 2018, according to an affidavit filed in federal court by FBI Special Agent Patrick Straub.

Since at least June 2022, Russell was planning to attack substations as part of his "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist beliefs," Straub wrote. Russell posted links online to maps of infrastructure and he described how attacks could cause a "cascading failure." He was previously arrested in Florida while on supervised release on separate charges, officials said.

Clendaniel told the informant in a recorded conversation cited by Straub that they needed to “destroy those cores, not just leak the oil” and that a “good four or five shots through the center of them . . . should make that happen." 

The duo had a semi-automatic shotgun, Glock-style handgun and roughly 1,500 rounds of ammunition, according to an indictment.

Clendaniel, communicating under code name Nythra88, told the FBI informant she was diagnosed with a terminal illness and didn’t expect to live longer than a few months, the affidavit said. She asked the informant to purchase a rifle for her and said she wanted to “accomplish something worthwhile” before her death.

The plot targeted the Exelon Corporation and its subsidiary Baltimore Gas and Electric, Maryland’s largest gas and electric utility. The company said around the time of the arrests that the plot was not carried out, and nothing was damaged but noted "threats have increased in recent years." The utility said it has invested in projects to harden the grid, as well as in monitoring and surveillance technologies to prevent physical attacks and cyberattacks.

Russell said he had started a Nazi group known as “Atomwaffen," which Straub wrote is known to law enforcement as a “US-based racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist” group with cells in several states.

The duo adopted the extremist concept of accelerationism, a belief rooted in white supremacy that the “current system is irreparable and without an apparent political solution, and therefore violent action is necessary to precipitate societal and government collapse,” prosecutors said.

Clendaniel faces a maximum sentence of 35 years for conspiracy and gun charges, as well as up a lifetime of supervised release. Her sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 3.

Clendaniel's attorney did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's requests for comment Tuesday.

Attacks on power grids across U.S.

Industry experts and federal officials have been sounding the alarm since the 1990s on the vulnerability of America’s power grid. Several states, including Florida, Oregon and the Carolinas have faced targets on electric infrastructure in recent years.

Federal officials have also warned that bad actors from within the U.S. are behind some of the attacks. The Department of Homeland Security said last year that domestic extremists had been developing "credible, specific plans" since at least 2020 and would continue to "encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure."

The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked an uptick of extremist organizations in the U.S. In 2022, the legal advocacy group tallied a record-high of 1,225 hate and anti-government groups across the nation.

Contributing: Grace Hauck and Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY