Attorney General Pam Bondi is coming down hard on alleged attackers of Tesla dealerships.
Bondi announced Monday that the Justice Department had unsealed federal charges against Cooper Frederick, 24, in connection with the firebombing of a Tesla dealership in Loveland, Colorado, earlier this month, adding that she planned to seek a 20-year sentence as punishment for his alleged act.
Frederick was arrested by Loveland police following a March 7 incident where an explosive was thrown into a Tesla dealership, landing between two vehicles. Cleaners were inside the building at the time, but no one was hurt after a responding officer quickly put out the fire, police said.
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Loveland police booked Frederick under state law on charges related to possession of an incendiary device, arson, and criminal mischief. Bondi said he was later arrested again in Plano, Texas, after an FBI investigation.
“All of these cases are a serious threat to public safety, therefore there will be no negotiating,” Bondi said in a video Monday. “We are seeking 20 years in prison.”
The Loveland building had been attacked five other times before the March 7 incident, police told Fox 31. Tesla dealerships have come under fire all over the globe, including one in Rome where over a dozen cars were destroyed in a possible arson.
“I’ve made it clear: If you take part in the wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, we will find you, arrest you, and put you behind bars,” Bondi said.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk blasted the attacks as “terrorism” and called them “unequivocally a hate crime” in X posts on Monday.
In a Wisconsin rally held Sunday for Brad Schimel, the Republican bet for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court, Musk said it was “shocking how much violence and hatred is coming from the left.”
“They claim to be the party of empathy, and yet they’re burning Teslas and shooting up dealerships and calling for the death of the president and me,” Musk said. “I totally understand if somebody doesn’t want to buy a product… It’s a free country, but you don’t have to burn it down.”
Despite Musk and President Donald Trump’s assertions, the FBI has not found evidence that attacks on Tesla dealerships were coordinated.
