DENVER — Federal prosecutors have charged a woman in a string of vandalism against a Colorado Tesla dealership, including throwing Molotov cocktails at vehicles and spray painting “Nazi cars” on the building along with a message that appeared directed at company co-founder Elon Musk.
Recommended Videos
Lucy Grace Nelson was scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon on one count of malicious destruction of property, according to court documents. It wasn’t clear if she had a lawyer.
Nelson was arrested Monday on separate state charges after police said she returned to the dealership in Loveland, Colorado with “additional incendiary devices” and materials used in vandalism.
The case comes amid rising concerns voiced by Democrats and some Republicans about Musk’s influence over the administration of President Donald Trump and follows recent protests at Tesla storerooms elsewhere in the U.S.
Trump and cost-costing chief Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have been moving to slash the size of the federal government through large-scale layoffs, contract cancellations and other moves.
According to the federal criminal charges filed against Nelson, she is suspected of starting fires by igniting Molotov cocktails crafted from empty liquor bottles near vehicles that apparently did not cause much damage.
Photos included in the filing showed a small fire on the ground near vehicles. The dealership estimated that several incidents of vandalism over the course of about a month caused between $5,000 and $20,000 in damages, with an estimated $5,000 in damage to the vehicles.
Loveland police spokesperson Chris Padgett said police were investigating the possibility of someone else being involved.
In one of the incidents, someone spray painted an obscenity believed to be directed at Musk before being chased away by a security guard, according to a Loveland police affidavit.
Police said that when Nelson was arrested, in her car they observed cans of spray paint, gasoline, bottles and various cloth pieces that could be soaked with an accelerant.