Prosecutors seek 18 years in prison for woman accused of involvement in neo-Nazi plot to destroy Maryland's power grid, mother speaks to WJZ

BALTIMORE – Federal prosecutors are seeking an 18-year prison sentence for Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 36, who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up Baltimore-area power plants as part of a white supremacist plot to destabilize the government.

WJZ investigator Mike Hellgren spoke exclusively with the defendant's mother on Friday.

Lanette Clendaniel said the recommended sentence for her daughter was consistent with the expected prison sentence of 15 to 20 years.

She had previously told Hellgren that she did not agree with the Neo-Nazi views.

Transcripts of recorded telephone conversations between Sarah Beth Clendaniel and a confidential informant show that she attempted to obtain a high-powered rifle to shoot at electrical substations in Reisterstown, Perry Hall, White Marsh, and other locations.

“If we could do all this in one day, the whole city would be destroyed,” Clendaniel said in the recordings.

She told the informant: “The city would probably be permanently and completely devastated.”

Lanette Clendaniel, who lives in Cecil County, told Hellgren she expects to be present at the sentencing to support her daughter and has written a letter to the judge.

“[It says] “Wherever she is, whether she is in prison or not, I truly believe that God will pour out his Spirit upon her. His will will be done and I hope that his will is done in all of our lives in this country,” said Lanette Clendaniel.

In court documents, prosecutors called Sarah Clendaniel an “accelerationist” who believes “violent action is necessary to bring about the collapse of society and government and advance an ideology of white supremacy.”

They said racist groups were closely monitoring the case, writing: “Imposing an 18-year prison sentence would send a strong signal to this particular community, as well as to society as a whole, that this type of violent and destructive behavior will not be tolerated and will be met with a harsh sentence.”

Lanette Clendaniel said after her daughter served a prison sentence for rob a supermarket with a machete To finance her heroin addiction, she teamed up with her co-defendant Brandon Russell.

Prosecutors said Russell was a co-founder of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi organization.

Russell is fighting the charges and intends to go to trial in November, while Clendaniel has agreed to a plea deal.

“She seems to be doing well,” Lanette Clendaniel said of her daughter. “I visited her with the children. Next Wednesday is the last Wednesday because that's when she will be sentenced.”

Prosecutors said if the plan had not been foiled, it would have caused $75 million in damage to the power grid and left large parts of Maryland in the dark. They said that was a conservative estimate.

Prosecutors allege that Sarah Clendaniel tried to obtain a rifle powerful enough to damage the core of the substations and that she had previously persuaded someone to make her an AR weapon using a 3D printer.

The sentencing is scheduled for September 25 in Baltimore.