On March 20, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that three individuals have been federally charged with committing acts of “domestic terrorism” after allegedly using firearms, explosives and other means to attack Tesla vehicles and dealerships around the country.
“The days of committing crimes without consequences have ended. 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,” Bondi said Thursday.
All three suspects face a minimum penalty of five years behind bars, and could receive sentences as high as 20 years, the department said.
One of the accused, Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, allegedly threw eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in Salem, Oregon in late January this year, completely destroying one vehicle and damaging several others.
Justin Thomas Nelson, who also goes by the alias Lucy Grace Nelson, 42, was apprehended in Loveland, Colorado at the end of January after he attempted to torch a number of Tesla vehicles with Molotov cocktails.
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Also charged is Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, who allegedly wrote profanities against President Donald Trump on a number of Tesla charging stations in Charleston, South Carolina while advocating for Ukraine.
“F**k Trump” and “Long Live Ukraine” were spray painted in red paint on a Tesla charging station parking spot before the chargers were set ablaze with Molotov cocktails.
Lansky and Nelson are charged with arson of property in interstate commerce and possession of unregistered destructive devices while Clarke-Pounder is charged with arson in interstate commerce.
‘More violence is on its way’
Michael Tabman, a former special agent with the FBI, told Fox News that the violent attacks springing up across the country can indeed be classified as “domestic terrorism” and that these cases, including attacks on Tesla vehicles and dealerships, will most likely continue.
“I do fear that more violence is on its way. Maybe not directly Teslas or DOGE, but just general political violence. I think it’s already here. But I think there’s more around the corner,” he said.
Efforts to intimidate Tesla owners and supporters of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, were taken to a new level recently with the establishment of a website, “DOGEQUEST.”
The website purports to have compiled a list of Tesla owners, including their home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, in an effort to reveal the identities and personal information of ordinary Americans who drive Teslas.
The site also contains a map of Tesla dealerships and charging stations.
President Trump has spoken out against the violence erupting across the country, referring to the attackers as “domestic terrorists” and vowing to root them out.
“I’m going to stop them,” he said on March 11 after buying a Tesla himself. “We’re going to catch them, they’re bad guys. We’re going to catch you, and you’re going to go through hell,” the President promised.
Petty acts of vandalism
Amidst the rise in domestic terrorism, a number of videos depicting acts of petty vandalism against Tesla vehicles have been flooding social media sites like X.
A number of vandals have been caught on camera hitting, scratching, spitting on and otherwise vandalising Teslas on the street.
On X, simply searching “Tesla Vandalism” reveals dozens of videos of people vandalising the electric vehicles.
So far, it appears that vandals have failed to realize that all of their acts are being caught on camera with many of the videos being posted online with pleas from owners to find the perpetrators.
Elon Musk also took to X to announce that “Tesla has ramped up security and activated Sentry Mode on all vehicles at stores.”
Sentry mode is Tesla’s built-in security system that uses the car’s cameras and sensors to monitor its surroundings when parked. If suspicious activity is detected, the system records footage, displays a warning on the screen, and can activate the car’s alarm if necessary.
Some arrests have been made, including a San Jose, California man who was arrested for felony vandalism after being caught by Tesla’s Sentry Mode keying a car in a Costco parking lot.
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