Just weeks after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz expressed joy over Tesla’s brief stock market downturn, a state employee has been charged with allegedly causing more than $20,000 in damage across multiple vandalism incidents targeting Teslas.
Dylan Bryan Adams, a 33-year-old fiscal policy analyst for the Minnesota state government, was booked on suspicion of keying multiple Tesla vehicles in Minneapolis. Several videos from the vehicles’ built-in sentry mode security system show a man, believed to be Adams, committing the acts of vandalism while he was out walking his dog.
One of the videos shows the suspect approaching a Tesla before abruptly dragging his keys down the side of the car’s door, causing paint to strip off the vehicle, according to a report from Crime Watch Minneapolis on X. A separate video allegedly shows Adams aggressively carving into two separate Teslas.
The same dog could be seen in all three videos that captured the acts of vandalism, which helped police zero in on Adams as a suspect. His charges are currently pending as of this report.
In a statement to the New York Post, a spokesperson for Governor Walz attempted to downplay the incident by stating that Adams is one of 40,000 state employees. They also noted that Adams, who works in Minnesota’s Department of Human Services was not a political appointee.
The arrest comes just weeks after Governor Walz said it brought him great joy to see Tesla’s recent stock market troubles, which have come amidst wider market turbulence. “Some of you know this. On the iPhone, they’ve got that little stock app. I added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day — $225 and dropping,” the former vice presidential candidate said during a stop on his nationwide speaking tour last month.
“And if you own one, we’re not blaming you. You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla thing off,” he added. Walz later attempted to walk back the remark after backlash, stating it was “just a joke.”
In response to the massive uptick in attacks targeting Tesla dealerships and owners, the FBI created a task force to investigate the politically-motivated crimes, the most serious of which have involved homemade explosive devices. Several arrests have been made as a result of the task force’s efforts, including a Las Vegas man who torched a lot filled with Tesla vehicles by using a homemade incendiary device.
