Sarah Beth Clendaniel had held Nazi beliefs since she was 13, and as an adult, in failing health and believing she had less than a year to live, decided she wanted to put her thoughts into action. Conspiring with a neo-Nazi leader, she put together a plan to take out power substations around the Baltimore region.

Even after pleading guilty to charges related to the foiled plot, federal prosecutors say the 36-year-old remained in contact with leaders of the so-called Terrorgram Collective while behind bars.

U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar scoffed when her defense attorney told him that it was her opinion that her client would not have followed through. He said she needed to be “incapacitated,” and sentenced her to 18 years in federal prison followed by lifetime supervised release.

“As I sit here today, I’m not convinced the defendant isn’t ... capable of acting on that inclination,” Bredar said.

Clendaniel was arrested in February 2023 after corresponding for months with a government source to plot the attack, which prosecutors said would have caused $75 million worth of damage to energy stations alone, not including the ripple effects of such a catastrophe. A co-defendant, Brandon Clint Russell, is scheduled to go to trial later this year.

Public defender Sedira Banan asked the court to consider Clendaniel’s traumatic life experiences dating to her childhood, which she described as the most profound she had ever seen. That trauma was not detailed in court, but involved physical abuse and at one point living underneath a bridge. Banan said Clendaniel had not a single meaningful, positive relationship in her life, nor any meaningful interventions or therapy.

She pointed to that as an explanation for Clendaniel’s continued communication with Russell and another alleged Terrorgram member, Dallas Humber, who is awaiting trial in California after being accused of soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the killings of federal officials, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

“This is the community she has known,” Banan said.

With counseling, she was capable of change, Banan said, asking Bredar to sentence Clendaniel to 10 years behind bars.

Russell, a leader of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, had been encouraging attacks on electrical substations for years and providing guidance on how to cause maximum damage, according to authorities. During one conversation with the source, Russell said that “putting holes in transformers ... is the greatest thing somebody can do.” He and Clendaniel began communicating while both were behind bars.

Bredar asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Gavin whether she believed Russell and Clendaniel were equally culpable in the power substation plot. She paused before responding, “Yes.”

“She was a full-in, complete member of this white supremacist, accelerationist movement, and was intent on committing an act that would bring her glory and help bring about societal chaos,” Gavin said.

The federal sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 30 to 35 years. Prosecutors asked for 18 years, taking into consideration her decision to plead guilty.

In a letter to Bredar, Clendaniel said she had realized through speaking with a psychologist that the terror plot had been pursued out of weakness.

“Feeling weak, powerless and scared made me want to do something to feel powerful and in control because I felt so helpless and out of control in every aspect of my life,” she wrote.

Clendaniel told Bredar in court that she was “grateful” that she got arrested before the plot was carried out, though she doubted she would have followed through.

“It’s true, your honor, I hold national socialist beliefs,” she said. “I would never do anything ... to act on those beliefs.”

Banan encouraged Bredar to engage in a dialogue with Clendaniel, and after addressing him, Clendaniel asked Bredar if he had any questions for her. He said no.