17-04-2025
Man charged in Tesla, GOP arson attacks ordered to remain in custody pending trial
Apr. 16—A U.S. magistrate judge on Wednesday ordered Jamison Wagner, 40, to remain in custody while awaiting trial on federal charges alleging he carried out arson attacks against a Tesla dealership and New Mexico Republican Party office.
Also on Wednesday, an FBI agent revealed that DNA evidence obtained from a shattered liquor bottle found at the GOP office led to Wagner's arrest this week.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar said he found it difficult to order pretrial detention for a man with no criminal history, strong family ties in Albuquerque and a steady job at Intel.
Robbenhaar pointed to both the violent nature of the attacks and writings found at Wagner's home that allegedly described plans for building bombs as his reasons for ordering Wagner's detention.
The writings, contained in a black notebook found at Wagner's home, "talk about using violence against the regime," Robbenhaar said following a three-hour hearing in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
"I have to say, these charges rung a bell," Robbenhaar said. "This does fall under the rubric of domestic terrorism."
Wagner is charged with two federal counts of arson of a building or vehicle used in interstate commerce. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count, prosecutors said.
Wagner's attorney, Noah Gelb, told the judge that the charges Wagner faces, if true, are "completely aberrant" given his past behavior.
Wagner moved to Albuquerque as a teenager, earned a master's degree in electrical engineering at the University of New Mexico and has worked for three years at Intel, Gelb said.
Gelb also said he found it "troubling" that "the sole pitch for detention is the present case." He asked the judge to allow Wagner to remain in home detention while awaiting trial.
"We have no evidence to suggest dangerousness or risk of flight, at all," Gelb said.
Wagner, who was cuffed and shackled and wearing a red-and-white inmate uniform, offered to speak at the hearing but was advised by the judge not to make any statements.
Prosecutors pointed to the contents of the notebook found in Wagner's home to argue that Wagner has an "ideological disdain" for the U.S. government and had been planning additional attacks.
"In his garage, he was attempting to distill ammonium nitrate," which can be used to build powerful bombs, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Mote told the judge. "It appears he was intending further acts of violence."
William Yu, an FBI agent and the prosecution's only witness Wednesday, testified that DNA evidence found at the scene of a March 30 arson attack at the New Mexico Republican Party headquarters led to Wagner's identification as a suspect.
"I was told the DNA was a match to a person," Yu testified. "It was a known person" but not Wagner, he said.
FBI agents then tracked social media accounts of the person, who was not identified, and found a link to Wagner, Yu said. Wagner became the prime suspect when investigators learned that he owned a 2015 Hyundai Accent observed in surveillance video near the GOP headquarters, he said.
According to a criminal complaint, investigators found shattered bottles that they allege were used as incendiary devices to set a fire at the Republican Party office in the 5100 block of San Francisco NE.
Some of the shattered glass was identified as a blue bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin, the complaint said.
Yu testified that the DNA evidence obtained from the glass led to social media surveillance that ultimately led to Wagner's arrest on Monday.
Investigators also observed similarities between the attack on GOP headquarters and a Feb. 9 attack on a Tesla dealership in Bernalillo, Yu said.
The criminal complaint said that the lid of a Smucker's peanut butter container found at GOP headquarters was marked with a handwritten "H" or "I" similar to a bottle found inside a Tesla Model Y following the Feb. 9 attack.
FBI agents executed a search warrant at Wagner's Northwest Albuquerque residence on April 12 where they found a cardboard box containing eight assembled incendiary devices, Yu testified.
Investigators also found a black notebook that appeared to contain instructions for building hand-thrown incendiary devices commonly known as Molotov cocktails, Yu testified.
Other notes contained instructions on how to extract ammonium nitrate from fertilizer, Yu said. The search also found evidence that Wagner had made an unsuccessful attempt to extract ammonium nitrate from a commercial fertilizer, he said.
Mote argued that Wagner's attempt to extract ammonium nitrate combined with written notes indicates his intent to "counter a brutal regime of oppressors."
The case has attracted national media attention and comments from Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who warned that "those taking part in this ongoing wave of political violence" will be arrested and prosecuted.
The affidavit supporting Wagner's arrest warrant was prepared by federal agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The attack on the Tesla showroom occurred shortly after 3 a.m. on Feb. 9, where investigators found two Tesla Model Y vehicles on fire outside the showroom, which is located on Santa Ana Pueblo property.
ATF investigators said the fires were started by a glass container containing a fluid described as "improvised napalm material."
Investigators also found graffiti scrawled on the building and up to six vehicles with messages including "Die Elon," "Tesla Nazi Inc." and "Die Tesla Nazi."
In the March 30 attack at the GOP office, Albuquerque Fire Rescue responded at 5:55 a.m. and found the door and entry area on fire. They also found graffiti on the side of the building that read, "ICE=KKK," according to the criminal complaint.
Yu testified that federal agents found a stencil in Wagner's home similar to the graffiti found at the GOP office.
