The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that it charged Jamison R. Wagner, a 40-year-old from Albuquerque, New Mexico, with arson for allegedly setting fires at a Tesla showroom in the city as well as the local Republican Party headquarters. The charges come as Tesla CEO Elon Musk remains the focus of widespread public anger over his unlawful destruction of the U.S. government and his far-right extremist views about race and immigration.
The U.S. government alleges Wagner damaged two Tesla vehicles at the Tesla Showroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the early morning hours of Feb. 9, 2025. One of the vehicles appears to have significant damage, according to a photo released by DOJ, but another vehicle appears to simply have a window smashed.
The DOJ alleges that an “intact glass container” was found in the second vehicle “containing an improvised napalm material.”
The building of the Tesla Showroom and six other vehicles on the property were hit with graffiti reading “Die Elon,” “Tesla Nazi Inc,” and “Die Tesla Nazi,” as well as swastikas. Musk, who’s still operating the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), infamously made two Nazi-style salutes on the day President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025.
Musk has denied he was trying to invoke the Nazis, but anyone with eyes to see can understand why reasonable people would assume the billionaire was welcoming the second Trump era with an explicit embrace of Nazism. The oligarch has embraced far-right ideology and expressed some extremely antisemitic and racist ideas over recent years.
DOJ published photos it said were taken from surveillance footage appearing to show a person in a black hooded sweatshirt. It’s not clear whether that person is actually Wagner, though the government insists it is.
“Hurling firebombs is not political protest,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement posted online. “It is a dangerous felony that we will prosecute to the maximum extent. The impressive work by law enforcement in New Mexico sends a clear message to perpetrators of all of the shameful attacks on Tesla facilities and political establishments: we are coming for you, you can’t hide, and you will do serious jail time to pay for your crimes.”
The FBI issued a statement in late March noting that there have been attacks on Tesla-related property in at least nine states. And while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has tried to insist that attacks on Tesla facilities, along with peaceful demonstrations, are all being paid for by some shadowy figures, there’s no evidence that this is the case.
DOJ also alleges Wagner attacked the Republican Party New Mexico (RPNM) office in the early morning hours of March 30, 2025. Two or three glass containers with flammable liquids were allegedly used to damage the door of the building, while the words ICE=KKK were spray-painted outside. Wagner was arrested on April 12, 2025, by agents from the FBI and ATF, according to the DOJ press release.
“Let this be the final lesson to those taking part in this ongoing wave of political violence,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “We will arrest you, we will prosecute you, and we will not negotiate. Crimes have consequences.”
Wagner has been charged with two counts of malicious damage or destruction of property by fire or explosives and faces 5-20 years for each of the two counts, according to DOJ.
