Maryland woman pleads guilty to alleged plot to attack Baltimore power stations – By Alexander Mallin (ABC News) / May 14, 2024
Sarah Beth Clendaniel pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and firearms charges.
A Maryland woman accused of plotting to carry out attacks on multiple energy substations surrounding Baltimore pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal conspiracy and firearms charges, court records show.
Sarah Beth Clendaniel, of Catonsville, was charged last year with conspiring with a Florida-based founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen to carry out the attacks, in what prosecutors described as a racism-fueled plot to spark mass chaos in the majority-Black city.
“Ms. Clendaniel’s hate-fueled plans to destroy the Baltimore region power grid threatened thousands of innocent lives,” Maryland U.S. Attorney Erek Barron said in a statement Tuesday. “But, when law enforcement and the communities we serve are united in partnership, hate cannot win.”
Clendaniel initially pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to damage an energy facility. She was subsequently also charged with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and pleaded guilty to both charges in federal court on Tuesday.
