Woman charged with plotting to disable Baltimore power grid – WTOP News

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Maryland girl conspired with a Florida neo-Nazi chief to hold out an assault on a number of electrical substations within the Baltimore space, officers mentioned Monday.

The arrest of Sarah Beth Clendaniel, of Baltimore County, was the newest in a sequence throughout the nation as authorities warn electrical infrastructure might be a weak goal for home terrorists. It wasn’t instantly clear Monday whether or not she had a lawyer to talk on her behalf.

She conspired with Brandon Russell, lately arrested in Florida, to disable the ability grid by capturing out substations by way of “sniper assaults,” saying she wished to “utterly destroy this complete metropolis,” in accordance with a prison grievance unsealed Monday. The grievance additionally included a photograph of a lady authorities recognized as Clendaniel carrying tactical gear that bore a swastika and holding a rifle.

U.S. Lawyer Erek Barron praised investigators for disrupting hate-fueled violence.

“After we are united, hate can’t win,” he mentioned at a information convention saying the fees.

Authorities declined to specify how the deliberate assault was meant to meet a racist motive however urged the defendants wished to convey consideration to their trigger.

Russell has an extended historical past of ties to racist teams and Nazi beliefs, in addition to previous plans to assault U.S. infrastructure methods, in accordance with the grievance. It additionally wasn’t clear Monday whether or not he had a lawyer.

In current months, considerations about defending the nation’s energy grid have been heightened by assaults, or threatened assaults.

In Washington state, two males have been arrested final month on expenses that they vandalized substations weeks earlier in assaults that left 1000’s with out energy round Christmastime. One suspect informed authorities they did it so they may break right into a enterprise and steal cash.

A gunfire assault in December on substations in central North Carolina triggered energy outages affecting tens of 1000’s of consumers. Legislation enforcement officers have mentioned the capturing was focused, although no arrests have been made. Lawmakers there have proposed laws to toughen penalties for deliberately damaging utility tools.

Baltimore Fuel and Electrical, which controls the native energy grid, thanked legislation enforcement and mentioned Monday that there was no harm to any substations, that service wasn’t disrupted and that there are at present no recognized threats to services.

“The substations are usually not believed to have been focused out of any connection to BGE or Exelon, or due to any explicit vulnerability,” BGE mentioned in a information launch. “We now have a long-standing partnership with legislation enforcement and state and federal regulators of the grid to safe crucial infrastructure; this work is much more vital now as threats have elevated in recent times.”

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