Tesla owners are being advised to take steps to safeguard themselves in light of a recent series of vandalism incidents aimed at the vehicles throughout the United States.
Following the assumption of office by President Donald Trump in January and the appointment of Tesla owner Elon Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), radical activists nationwide have been venting their frustrations on Tesla showrooms, repair centers, charging stations, and privately-owned Teslas.
Despite the presence of surveillance cameras in every Tesla vehicle, known as Sentry Mode according to the manufacturer, unabated vandalism targeting Teslas is on the rise.
However, Attorney General Pam Bondi has already slapped four people with federal charges in fiery attacks on Tesla dealerships and charging stations.
Footage from the parking lot of the Ontario International Airport in California showed a man swinging his luggage bag wildly at a Tesla Model Y, causing $3,000 in damage.
Owings Mills, Md. – March 2
A Tesla dealership in Owings Mills, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, was vandalized with spray paint that read “No Musk,” as well as a symbol that looked like a swastika or an “X,” the latter of which could symbolize Musk’s ownership of the microblogging site.
Loveland, Colo. – Jan. 29 to Feb. 24
Lucy Grace Nelson, also known as Justin Thomas Nelson, 42, was first arrested in Loveland, Colorado, on Jan. 29 after attempting to set a Tesla dealership on fire with Molotov cocktails.
Nelson was later found in possession of materials used to produce additional incendiary weapons, including a container of gasoline, bottles, and wick materials, on Feb. 24, prosecutors said.
Lucy Grace Nelson is charged with a number of crimes related to incidents at a Colorado Tesla dealership. (Loveland Police Department)
Nelson was charged federally with arson of property in interstate commerce and possession of unregistered destructive device, and locally with one count of malicious destruction of property, explosives or incendiary devices use, felony criminal mischief and criminal attempt to commit felonies.
During the same timeframe, there were also three separate instances of graffiting at the dealership, though it is unclear whether Nelson was involved.
Salem, Ore. – Feb 19 and Jan. 20
Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, threw approximately eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership located in Salem, Oregon, on Jan 20, according to federal prosecutors. One vehicle was completely destroyed, and several others were damaged.
On Feb. 19, officers responded early in the morning to a call at the same location and found “projectiles believed to be spent bullets, bullet fragments, and several projectile impacts. Lansky was also allegedly in possession of an AR-15 rifle during the attack.
He has been charged federally with arson of property in interstate commerce and possession of unregistered destructive device.
Upon the federal indictments of Nelson, Lansky and Clarke-Pounder, Bondi said the arrests should be a warning to others who might commit violent attacks.
“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” Bondi said. “Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.”
However, one expert says accused vandals not only need to face consequences, but the examples of them facing consequences need to be more publicly extravagant in order to deter future criminal activity.
“You know, we haven’t seen real consequences yet,” former NYPD detective Rob O’Donnell told Fox News Digital. “We haven’t seen people marched around in handcuffs. I mean, we’ve seen people identified, we’ve seen the threat of charges. We’ve seen, ‘you’re going to face 20 years [in prison], it’s going to be federal charges.’ But until they actually see people’s lives ruined, they’re going to be led by emotion, pure rage rather than any common sense.”
O’Donnell started off as a street cop in the 1980s, when the city had an epidemic of subway train graffiti. During that time, police used decoy trains to catch graffiti vandals, and O’Donnell suggested that Tesla could partner with law enforcement and do something similar to catch and deter would-be vandals.
“[Radical activists] lost all sense of reality and reasoning,” he said. “And that might be a bigger issue, that politics has brought us to this point. And I’ve talked about this since the election. Democrats are really leaderless. They don’t have a message. They’re basically listening to whoever has the loudest megaphone. And if the person with the loudest megaphone is telling you time and time again ‘take [your anger] out here,’ people unfortunately are going to listen.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Tesla for comment.
Fox News’ Rachel Wolf, Pilar Arias, Louis Casiano and Preston Mizell contributed to this report.
