‘Needs to be Incapacitated’: Federal Judge Sentences Maryland Woman Who Allegedly Plotted to Blow Up Power Grid In Mostly Black City to 18 Years In Prison

She wanted to create chaos in a majority black city, conspiring with a Neo-Nazi leader to blow up Baltimore’s power substations. Sarah Beth Clendaniel’s own& words sealed her conviction& on federal conspiracy and firearms charges, and last month, she learned her fate: 18 years behind bars. U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar dismissed the defense’s claim that Clendaniel, 36, wouldn’t have followed through on the elaborate plot that, as she boasted to an informant, would “completely lay this city to waste.” Prosecutors said, if successful, the attack would cause $75 million in damage to the substations alone. Clendaniel needed to be “incapacitated,” the judge said, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Federal authorities arrested Sarah Clendaniel in connection with an alleged plot to attack Baltimore’s power grid. (Photo: YouTube screenshot/CBS Morning) & “I’m not convinced the defendant isn’t … capable of acting on that inclination,” Bredar said. Clendaniel faced up to 35 years had she not pleaded guilty in May to federal conspiracy and firearms charges. Public defender Seidra Banan asked for a 10-year sentence, saying Clendaniel had suffered more trauma in her life, including physical abuse and homelessness, than anyone she had ever represented. She knew but...