Tesla vandal suspect Dylan Adams will not face criminal changes, gets ‘diversion’

The Minneapolis district attorney will not pursue criminal charges against a Minnesota state employee accused of vandalizing at least six Teslas.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Monday it would instead seek “diversion” of the case against 33-year-old Dylan Adams, who allegedly caused $20,000 in damage in his rampage just weeks after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz publicly cheered Tesla’s falling stock.

“Our main priorities are to secure restitution for the victims and hold Mr. Adams accountable. As a result, we will file for pre-charge diversion to best facilitate both of those goals,” District Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement posted by the Twin Cities Fox affiliate.

This approach does allow for criminal charges later, if Mr. Adams were to engage in more vandalism.

“This is an approach taken in many property crime cases and helps to ensure the individual keeps their job and can pay restitution, as well as reducing the likelihood of repeat offenses. Criminal prosecution remains a possibility should unlawful behavior continue,” Ms. Moriarty said.

Mr. Adams was arrested last week and videos were shown during a news conference last Thursday of the suspect purportedly keying the electric-powered cars, mostly in downtown Minneapolis, while walking his dog.

Teslas come with 360-degree cameras, and so anyone getting close enough to key them or perform some other acts of vandalism automatically provides police with a video of his crime.

Tesla — the vehicles, the dealerships, the charging stations — all have become a target for politically motivated violence by left-wingers in the months since company founder Elon Musk began openly backing President Trump.

Mr. Adams is a state employee, working as a data analyst on fiscal policy for Minnesota’s Department of Human Services.

His arrest came about a month after Mr. Walz, his boss, said at a political rally that a stock-price app that lets him watch Tesla lose value — and thereby also his own state’s pension fund lose value — gives him “a little boost during the day.”

Some other liberals are progressives have been far more extreme, calling Mr. Musk a Nazi and saying he should be killed. Tesla owners have also reported widespread public attacks ranging from curse words to assaults.

Mr. Adams is not a political appointee and one of 40,000 people who work for one or other branch of the state government, a Walz spokesperson told The New York Post last week.

The Minneapolis police department immediately distanced itself from the decision, which quickly sparked outrage on social media.

“The Minneapolis Police Department did its job. It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified, and arrested a suspect, and presented a case file to the Hennepin County Attorney Office for consideration of charges,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a statement.

“Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Hennepin County Attorney should be directed solely at her office. Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined. In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same,” Chief O’Hara added.

The FBI and Justice Department have said they will treat attacks on Teslas and related facilities as “domestic terrorism” because of the strong possibility of a political motive.

This fact caused people on social media to call for the feds to step in now that the state won’t prosecute Mr. Adams.