Prosecutors seek 18-year prison sentence for woman accused 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 power stations around Baltimore to destabilize the government in a white supremacist plot. 

The defendant's mother, Lanette Clendaniel, said the sentence recommendation is in line with the 15 to 20 years her daughter expected to receive later this month. 

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren spoke exclusively to Lanette Clendaniel on Friday. She previously told Hellgren she does not agree with her daughter's Neo-Nazi beliefs.

Planned to shoot through substations

Transcripts of recorded phone conversations between Sarah Beth Clendaniel and a confidential informant reveal she was trying to obtain a high-powered rifle to shoot through substations in Reisterstown, Perry Hall, White Marsh, and more locations.

"If we could do all these in a day...it would completely destroy this whole city," Clendaniel said in the recordings. 

She told the informant, "It would probably permanently, completely lay this city to waste."

She pleaded guilty in May to the 2023 plot.

Clendaniel's mother will attend sentencing  

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

"[It says] that no matter where she is, whether she's incarcerated or not, I do believe god will pour his spirit out on her. His will will be done, and I'm hoping that his will is done in all of our lives in this country," Lanette Clendaniel said. 

In court documents, prosecutors called Sarah Clendaniel an "accelerationist" who believes "violent action is required in order to bring about societal and government collapse and advance a white supremacist ideology."

White supremacists watching closely, prosecutors say

They said white supremacist groups are closely watching this case and wrote,  "Imposing a sentence of 18 years of imprisonment would send a strong message to that particular community, as well as to the community at large, that this sort of violent and destructive conduct will not be tolerated and will be met with a serious penalty."

Lanette Clendaniel said after her daughter served prison time for robbing a convenience store with a machete to fuel a heroin addiction, she connected with her co-defendant Brandon Russell. 

Prosecutors said Russell is the cofounder of Atomwaffen Division, a Neo-Nazi organization.

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

Potential for $75 million in damage

"She seems to be doing fine," Lanette Clendaniel said of her daughter. "I've been taking the kids to go visit her. Next Wednesday will be the last Wednesday because then she'll be sentenced."

Prosecutors said if the plot had not been foiled, it would have caused $75 million in damage to the electrical system and left much of Maryland in the dark. They considered that a conservative estimate. 

Prosecutors allege Sarah Clendaniel tried to get a rifle powerful enough to damage the core of the power substations and she previously was able to get someone to use a 3D printer to make her an AR-style weapon. 

Sentencing is set for September 25th in Baltimore.