A Baltimore County woman has been arrested on charges for allegedly plotting to destroy electric substations in the Baltimore region, federal authorities said during a press conference on Monday.
Sarah Beth Clendaniel was recorded detailing her plan to use firearms to destroy several Baltimore Gas and Electric substations with gunfire, according to the FBI.
The substations in question included Norrisville, Reisterstown and Perry Hall, according to The Baltimore Banner.
“[It] would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully,” she allegedly said on Jan. 29, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.
Brandon Clint Russell of Orlando, Florida and Clendaniel, of Catonsville, Maryland were charged with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland office press release.
Clendaniel is expected to appear today in the U.S. District Court of Baltimore.
If convicted, Russell and Clendaniel each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
“This planned attack threatened lives and would have left thousands of Marylanders in the cold and dark,” said Erek Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, the state’s top prosecutor, on Monday.
“The threat posed by domestic violent extremists is evolving and persistent,” said Thomas Sobocinski, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore office in a press release.
