U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced on Thursday that three individuals have been charged in connection with attacks on Tesla properties across the country.
“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” Bondi said in a statement. “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.”
The statement said that all three individuals, if convicted, face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and could end up facing two decades behind bars.
The statement did not identify those who were arrested but gave a brief synopsis of each case. The cases detailed in the statement appeared to match cases announced in recent days and weeks by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On the first defendant mentioned, the DOJ said:
One defendant, also armed with a suppressed AR-15 rifle, was arrested after throwing approximately eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership located in Salem, Oregon.
The case appears to be a reference to Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, who was arrested for allegedly “throwing Molotov cocktails at a local car dealership” and allegedly firing “multiple firearm rounds into a building and at least one vehicle,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
On the second defendant, the DOJ said:
Another was arrested in Loveland, Colorado after attempting to light Teslas on fire with Molotov cocktails. The defendant was later found in possession of materials used to produce additional incendiary weapons.
The case appears to be a match to Justin Thomas Nelson, 42, who the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado says was arrested on “one count of malicious destruction of property for a series of incidents at the Tesla dealership in Loveland, Colorado.”
On the final defendant mentioned, the DOJ said:
In Charleston, South Carolina, a third defendant wrote profane messages against President Trump around Tesla charging stations before lighting the charging stations on fire with Molotov cocktails.
The case appears to be a match for a case out of the USAO’s District of South Carolina against Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, who was arrested “on criminal charges related to an arson at a North Charleston Tesla charging station.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the arrests with a post on X that said, “The hammer of justice strikes.”
