A grand jury has indicted a Mesa, Arizona, man after torching a Tesla dealership in what prosecutors are now calling another act of domestic terrorism.
Ian William Moses, 35, was arrested in the early hours of April 28 after surveillance footage captured him dousing a Tesla dealership with gasoline and setting fire to several cars in Mesa, per a report from the Department of Justice.
According to the indictment, Moses arrived just before 2 a.m. wearing dark clothing, a black mask, and carrying a red gas can. He allegedly used fire starter logs to ignite the blaze and fled the scene on a bicycle. Law enforcement arrested him less than an hour later, just a quarter mile from the scene. He wore the same clothing and had a hand-drawn map showing the Tesla location marked with a “T.”
Moses now faces five counts of malicious damage to property in interstate commerce, each carrying up to 20 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines.
“There is nothing American about burning down someone else’s business because you disagree with them politically,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona.
“These ongoing attacks against Tesla are not protests, they are acts of violence that have no place in Arizona or anywhere else. If someone targets Tesla with violence, they will be found and confronted with the full force of the law,” He added.
Though Moses’ motive behind his attack has not yet been publicly disclosed, it comes amid a surge of anti-corporate rhetoric targeting Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk.
Musk and his business ventures, including X and SpaceX, have drawn increasing attacks from the radical left after his continued support for the Trump administration and efforts at DOGE.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi struck a firm tone in her response.
“If you engage in domestic terrorism, this Department of Justice will find you, follow the facts, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” said Bondi, adding, “No negotiating.”
As the investigation unfolds, many are left to reflect on what this case represents: not just a senseless act of property destruction but another troubling sign of how political extremism is increasingly playing out through violence in America, as previously covered by DX.
In an era where cultural and political divisions have bled into every facet of public life, including the car market, the recent Tesla arson in Arizona is not an isolated incident but part of a bigger pattern of attacks that law enforcement is seemingly only beginning to confront.