Baltimore County woman indicted in plot to attack power grid charged for illegally possessing gun

Federal authorities charged on Tuesday a Baltimore County woman with neo-Nazi ties whom they previously accused of plotting to attack Baltimore’s power grid with possessing a firearm despite knowing she was legally barred from doing so.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 35, of Catonsville, was indicted in February 2023 of conspiring with Brandon Clint Russell, 28, of Florida, to blow up five electrical substations in Baltimore and Harford counties, according to FBI agents and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. Conspiring to damage an energy facility comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years. Last month, a federal judge set a July 8 trial date. Both defendants pleaded not guilty during their March 2023 arraignment.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney charged Clendaniel with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, according to court documents. Neither the U.S. Attorney’s office nor Clendaniel’s federal public defender immediately answered a request for comment. Clendaniel is currently being held in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, according to the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Clendaniel possessed a semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun “on or about Feb. 3, 2023,” when FBI agents arrested her and Russell, according to a new charging document. She possessed the gun despite knowing she was prohibited because she had previously been convicted of a crime for which she had served more than a year in prison, according to the document. According to the original charging documents, Clendaniel had plotted to carry out the attacks on substations in Norrisville, Reisterstown, and Perry Hall using a shotgun and a handgun.

Authorities said they would forfeit after conviction the shotgun, along with a 9mm “ghost gun” pistol; 77 shotgun cartridges; 3 Glock 9mm magazines; and over 1500 rounds of ammunition, according to the new charging document.

Clendaniel has not yet been indicted for the new firearm charge.

Russell, who is originally from the Bahamas, was sentenced in 2017 on federal explosive charges. He is the founder of Atomwaffen Division, a violent neo-Nazi hate group that authorities have tied to five murders. He is currently being held at the Chesapeake Detention Facility in Baltimore City, according to DPSCS.

Clendaniel adopted neo-Nazi beliefs after living with a man in Iowa who held white supremacist beliefs, according to her mother, who said she also suffered from mental health issues and substance use disorder. FBI agents found photos of Clendaniel wearing tactical gear with a swastika, and a Google document that referenced Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber; Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik; and Adolf Hitler.

Clendaniel and Russell began communicating while she was in prison and had been in an online romantic relationship, according to charging documents. Federal authorities have refused to comment about how the two met. She told an FBI informant in January 2023 that she had a terminal kidney illness and wanted to “accomplish something worthwhile” before she died.