An escalating nationwide trend of vandalizing Tesla electric vehicle products has reached Wyoming, with a row of Rock Springs Tesla Superchargers spraypainted with swastikas either late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
The Rock Springs Police Department received a call Saturday morning regarding vandalism of the Tesla charging stations on Foothill Boulevard, says a statement the department released later that day.
An unknown number of suspects spray-painted swastikas on four Tesla charging stations, but did not vandalize non-Tesla-specific electric vehicle charging stations just across the street, RSPD spokeswoman Elizabeth Coontz told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview.
Coontz said the department also believes the attacks were politically motivated and part of a nationwide trend in which critics of Tesla CEO Elon Musk — a top adviser to President Donald Trump and leader at the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — have been damaging, burning and vandalizing Tesla products and dealerships.
The RPD is urging anyone with surveillance cameras recording in that area to share their video from Friday night and Saturday morning with the department.
One nearby business offered video, but it was taken from such a great distance that investigators can’t tell who sprayed the stations or how many people were involved, Coontz said.
Anyone with more information is encouraged to call the Sweetwater Combined Communications Center at 307-362-6575 and reference case No. R25-0493, says the statement.
‘Terrorists’
Trump on Friday warned that anyone committing or financing attacks on Tesla properties and products could face up to 20 years in prison. He called the attacks part of a coordinated effort, backed with money and organized sign production.
“These people are going to be caught — they’re going to be caught and they’re going to be prosecuted,” said Trump. “I view these people as terrorists just like others.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday announced federal charges carrying between five and 20 years in prison against three people accused of using Molotov cocktails to attack Tesla properties in three different states.
If a violator were charged under Wyoming’s state laws rather than federal, the amount of prison time he could face would depend upon how much damage he inflicted.
Property destruction and defacement carries a maximum of six months in jail and $750 in fines if the value of the damaged property costs less than $1,000. For damages over $1,000, violators could face up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines if charged under state law.
But the state’s prosecutors can also aggregate offenses: if a person inflicts $200 worth of property damage at a time but he does it five times, he can be charged with the felony.
Molotov Cocktails
Colorado prosecutors charged a woman last month in connection with attacks on Tesla dealerships, including the throwing of Molotov cocktails at vehicles and spray-painting the words “Nazi cars” on a building, the Associated Press reported.
An Oregon man is also charged on suspicion he threw several Molotov cocktails at a Tesla store in Salem, then came back and shot out the windows.
Teslas have been lit on fire in Seattle, Las Vegas, and other areas throughout the nation. The city of Boston had seven charging stations set ablaze March 3.
The FBI reported Friday that since January, Tesla EVs, dealerships and other properties have been targeted in at least nine states.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
