Maryland woman sentenced to 18 years for racist plot to attack Baltimore power stations

September 25, 2024

Department of Justice

(BALTIMORE) — A Maryland woman who pleaded guilty to a neo-Nazi plot to attack multiple energy substations surrounding Baltimore was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in prison and a lifetime of supervision upon her release, according the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel pleaded guilty in May to federal conspiracy and firearms charges.

Clendaniel communicated her plans to use a high-powered rifle to shoot through key infrastructure at five substations that the U.S. government estimated could have caused roughly $75 million in damage, had the plot not been foiled, according to prosecutors.

Clendaniel and a co-defendant still set to face trial, Brandon Russell — who co-founded the neo-Nazi group AtomWaffen — believed the destruction of the substations would lead to a “cascading failure” of Baltimore’s electrical grid that would “permanently completely lay this city to waste,” Clendaniel said in recorded conversations with a confidential informant, according to federal prosecutors.

Russell had been incarcerated when the two first met, stemming from a 2018 conviction related to his possession of an unregistered destructive device, officials said.

Prosecutors described the scheme as a racism-fueled plot to spark mass chaos in the majority-Black city.

“If we can pull off what I’m hoping … this would be legendary,” Clendaniel was quoted in charging documents telling the informant.

Clendaniel agreed that if she were to carry out the attacks the total costs of repairs to the energy facilities would have exceeded $100,000, according to plea documents.

The pair crafted their plot to shoot up the five substations while both were out on probation, according to charging documents, when Russell began communicating with a confidential FBI source in 2022 about his hopes of attacking critical infrastructure sites.

Russell allegedly told the informant that “putting holes in transformers … is the greatest thing somebody can do,” and told the informant they should carry out an attack “when there is greatest strain on the grid” to incur mass disruption, according to court documents. Russell further told the informant of Clendaniel and his alleged coordination with her to attack an energy facility and offered to connect the two to coordinate their attacks in order to “maximize impact.”

Upon meeting the informant, Clendaniel told them in early 2023 that she expected she would die of a terminal illness in a few months and was hoping to obtain a rifle as soon as possible in order to attack five substations she had singled out around Baltimore — all on the same day, prosecutors said.

“[Clendaniel] described how there was a ‘ring’ around Baltimore and if they hit a number of them all in the same day, they ‘would completely destroy this whole city,'” the affidavit stated.

Judge declines to reconsider criminal charges for Alec Baldwin in fatal ‘Rust’ shooting

Ramsay de Give-Pool/Getty Images

(SANTA FE, N.M.) A New Mexico judge has declined to reconsider criminal charges against Alec Baldwin over the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust” in October 2021.

“Because the State’s Amended Motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the State elected not to raise earlier, the Court does not find the Amended Motion well taken,” the decision said.

The court dismissed the state’s application to reinstate involuntary manslaughter charges that were thrown out in July after it was learned during trial that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense, namely ammunition brought to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

Baldwin’s attorneys claimed live ammunition that came into the hands of local law enforcement related to the investigation was “concealed” from them.

The judge in the trial, Mary Marlowe Sommer, said the state’s discovery violation regarding the late disclosure of a supplemental report on the ammunition evidence “injected needless delay into the proceedings,” approached “bad faith” and was “highly prejudicial to the defendant.”

Marlowe Sommer also issued the new ruling on Friday saying the charges would not be reconsidered for Baldwin.

“State does not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify the grant of a motion to reconsider,” she wrote in the opinion.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on Oct. 21, 2021, when she was shot by Baldwin while he was practicing using a Colt .45 revolver. The prop gun, which Baldwin believed to contain dummy rounds, actually had a live round of ammunition in it. Director Joel Souza was also struck in the shooting, but recovered from his injuries.

“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins’ death in March. Prosecutors argued during the trial she was the source of the live bullet and had failed to follow safety protocols meant to protect the crew while handling the firearms.

Gutierrez is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence, the maximum for the offense.

Last month, Marlowe Sommer denied a motion from Gutierrez’s attorneys arguing she was entitled to a new trial or dismissal of the case for “egregious prosecutorial misconduct” and “severe and ongoing discovery violations by the State,” related to the same evidence that resulted in Baldwin’s trial being dismissed.

Marlowe Sommer also denied a separate motion from the defense seeking immediate release from detention.

The judge ruled the issues raised by the defense did not justify a new trial or dismissal, and that the state did not suppress the ammunition evidence in Gutierrez’s trial that was at the heart of Baldwin’s dismissal.

Ballot boxes in Oregon, Washington state set on fire: Police

Portland Police Bureau

(PORTLAND, Ore.) — Ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington were set on fire early Monday, police in both states said.

It is unclear if the two arson incidents, which occurred near the Oregon-Washington border, are connected.

In the first reported incident, a ballot box in Portland, Oregon, was set on fire with an incendiary device, police said.

Portland police responded to reports of a fire at a ballot box around 3:30 a.m. local time on Monday. Security at the Multnomah County Elections Division responded and extinguished the fire, officials said.

“Officers determined an incendiary device was placed inside the ballot box and used to ignite the fire,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.

The bureau’s explosive disposal unit cleared the device, police said.

Fire suppressant prevented further damage and protected “virtually all the ballots,” though three were damaged, the Multnomah County Elections Division said in a press release.

Elections officials will contact the three impacted voters so they can receive replacement ballots, the division said.

“We have multiple systems and security measures in place to ensure your ballot is safe,” Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said in a statement.

No other ballot boxes or official drop sites in Multnomah County were affected, the division said.

The Portland Fire Investigations Unit is investigating.

About a half hour later, around 4 a.m. local time, officers in Vancouver, Washington, responded to a report of a ballot box that was smoking and on fire, police said.

“Officers arrived and located a suspicious device next to the box,” which was on fire, the Vancouver Police Department said in a statement.

The fire was extinguished, and members of the Metro Explosive Disposal Unit safely collected the device, police said.

The extent of damage to ballots remains unclear.

The FBI is investigating the incident, police said.

California police sergeant ‘ambushed’ by gunman linked to homicide: Officials

Fresno Police Department

(FRESNO, Calif.) — A Central California police sergeant was in a hospital recovering from bullet wounds Monday after he was “ambushed” over the weekend by a gunman who was killed in a subsequent shoot-out and later linked to a homicide victim found inside a residence, authorities said.

The shooting unfolded on Saturday in Fresno after the sergeant and two patrol officers were dispatched to investigate a ShotSpotter gunshot detection call at about 5:23 p.m., according to Fresno Interim Police Chief Mindy Castro.

Castro said the sergeant, a 21-year veteran of the Fresno Police Department, and the other officers had spent about an hour searching for evidence of a shooting in the neighborhood east of downtown Fresno when the ambush occurred. She said the suspect wielding an AR-style pistol drove by in a car and, without warning, opened fire on the sergeant who at the time was sitting in a parked patrol vehicle working on his computer.

“A Fresno police sergeant was ambushed here tonight,” Castro said as she began a news conference near the shooting scene.

Castro said two other officers were standing in the street searching for shell casings when gunfire erupted.

“The sergeant was in his car when the suspect returned completely unexpectedly and began firing shots at the sergeant,” said Castro, adding that the sergeant’s patrol car was riddled with bullets.

Castro said the sergeant, whose name was not released, suffered bullet wounds to his lower extremities.

The gunman, whose name was also not released, attempted to flee the scene, but crashed about a block away, Castro said.

Despite being wounded, the sergeant and the other officers chased the suspect and ended up in a shoot-out with him after the gunman got out of his wrecked car and opened fire on the officers, Castro said.

A Ring doorbell camera video from a residence obtained by ABC Fresno station KFSN captured what sounded like a dozen shots fired in the incident.

Castro said that after the suspect was shot and fell to the ground, the injured sergeant collapsed and radioed for an ambulance for them both.

The suspect was later pronounced dead at a hospital, Castro said.

A statement posted on the police department’s Facebook page Sunday evening said the sergeant remained in the hospital in stable condition.

Castro said she viewed the sergeant’s body camera video and described the sergeant’s and the other officers’ actions in engaging the suspect as a “picture of courageousness and calm.”

Before the gunfight, police obtained surveillance video that captured the suspect holding a gun as he exited a house near the shooting scene and got into a car matching the one involved in the ambush, Castro said.

Following the shooting, officers went to the house seen in the security video, forced their way in and discovered a homicide victim inside, Castro said.

Castro said it remains under investigation whether the ShotSpotter activation that initially drew the officers to the scene was caused by the shooting inside the residence.

“We’re still working to investigate that crime as well as the ambush shooting of one of our officers,” Castro said.

The identity of the homicide victim was pending an autopsy.