Texas man busted by Tesla 'sentry mode' after allegedly ramming 4-wheeler into multiple vehicles
A Texas man was arrested after allegedly damaging multiple Teslas across the city of Texarkana.
The Texarkana Police Department announced on Facebook that Demarqeyun Cox, 33, was arrested for allegedly ramming a "mini four-wheeler" into several Tesla vehicles. Police are working to see which reports of Teslas being damaged could be linked to Cox.
The suspect is currently charged with one count of felony criminal mischief and failure to identify. He is currently being held on a $105,000 bond, according to local NBC affiliate KETK-TV.
Texarkana Police Department Public Information Officer Shawn Vaughn told Fox News Digital that officers have linked Cox to multiple instances of vandalism, but they're being kept to one charge because authorities consider it to be "one criminal episode."
"Basically, you know, several incidents that happened within a very short period of time there. So, it's one charge which, you know, enhances the charge essentially to a felony because each of those individually increases cumulatively, rather increases the dollar amount of the damage there. So, you know that that gets it to the felony level [of] about two or three," Vaughn told Fox News Digital.
Vaughn also said that the suspect allegedly used an object to scratch the word "Elon" onto two different vehicles. Despite this, police still have not confirmed whether the attack was politically motivated.
Footage from a damaged Tesla outside a Chinese buffet restaurant allegedly caught Cox in the act. Tesla vehicles have a "Sentry Mode" feature that acts as a surveillance system. When in this mode, the vehicle's cameras and sensors are able to record activity around it.
"Think of Sentry Mode as an intelligent vehicle security system that alerts you when it detects possible threats nearby," according to the Tesla Model 3 owner's manual.
According to police, they received another report of a damaged Tesla after Cox's arrest.There has been an uptick in attacks on Tesla vehicles in recent months amid growing protests against CEO Elon Musk's work with the Trump administration. Tesla vehicles and dealerships have been vandalized and damaged in several states and even in Canada.
The Trump administration has started cracking down on the vandals, calling the uptick in attacks "domestic terrorism." So far, three suspects have been charged in connection with "the violent destruction of Tesla properties," according to the Department of Justice. The defendants face charges that carry a minimum of five years in prison, but could go up to 20 years.
"The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. "Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars."
When asked whether he could see Cox's case being taken up by the DOJ, Vaughn said, "If they would want to pursue it, I'm sure that the department would share the information with them."
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