Current:Home > ContactWhite supremacist admits plot to destroy Baltimore power grid, cause mayhem -Wealth Axis Pro
White supremacist admits plot to destroy Baltimore power grid, cause mayhem
View
Date:2025-04-12 10:32:17
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
veryGood! (6)
Related
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Company Behind Methane Leak Is Ordered to Offset the Climate Damage
- These Candidates See Farming as a Climate Solution. Here’s What They’re Proposing.
- Here's what the FDA says contributed to the baby formula shortage crisis
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Thawing Arctic Permafrost Hides a Toxic Risk: Mercury, in Massive Amounts
- Polar Bears Wearing Cameras and Fitbits Reveal an Arctic Struggle for Survival
- World Hunger Rises with Climate Shocks, Conflict and Economic Slumps
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- 4 ways the world messed up its pandemic response — and 3 fixes to do better next time
Ranking
- Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
- Legal fights and loopholes could blunt Medicare's new power to control drug prices
- Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes’ Latest Reunion Will Have You Saying My Oh My
- Of Course Princess Anne Was the Only Royal Riding on a Horse at King Charles III's Coronation
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Today’s Climate: June 8, 2010
- Many children are regularly exposed to gun violence. Here's how to help them heal
- Trump the Environmentalist?
Recommendation
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
Prince Andrew Wears Full Royal Regalia, Prince Harry Remains in a Suit at King Charles III's Coronation
A boil-water notice has been lifted in Jackson, Miss., after nearly 7 weeks
Flu is expected to flare up in U.S. this winter, raising fears of a 'twindemic'
How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
Zoey the Lab mix breaks record for longest tongue on a living dog — and it's longer than a soda can
AOC, Sanders Call for ‘Climate Emergency’ Declaration in Congress
Jim Hines, first sprinter to run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, dies at 76