FOX 9 reported that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will not seek criminal charges against Dylan Adams, a fiscal policy analyst for Minnesota’s Department of Human Services. Adams, 33, was arrested last week for allegedly causing $20,000 worth of damage to at least six Tesla vehicles in downtown Minneapolis while walking his dog. Instead, HCAO will seek “diversion.”
According to the report, potential “criminal charges remain on the table,” if Adams were to engage in similar behavior in the future.
In a Monday night statement, HCAO spokesman Daniel Borgertpoepping wrote:
Our main priorities are to secure restitution for the victims and hold Mr. Adams accountable. As a result, we will file for pre-charge diversion to best facilitate both of those goals. This is an approach taken in many property crime cases and helps to ensure the individual keeps their job and can pay restitution, as well as reducing the likelihood of repeat offenses. Criminal prosecution remains a possibility should unlawful behavior continue.
Restitution is important, but it’s not a substitute for accountability. At the time of Adams’ arrest, FOX 9 reported that police considered each of the six incidents a felony, noting that damage to each Tesla exceeded $1,000, meeting the threshold for felony vandalism in every case.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara issued a statement in response to the decision:
The Minneapolis Police Department did its job. It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified, and arrested a suspect, and presented a case file to the Hennepin County Attorney Office for consideration of charges. This case impacted at least six different victims and totaled over $20,000 in damages. Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Hennepin County Attorney should be directed solely at her office. Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined. In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same.
FOX 9 reached out to Adams’ attorney, Robert Paule, who responded with the following comment: “My client is very remorseful for his actions and is beginning the process of making sure the victims are made whole financially. We are grateful for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office exercise of prosecutorial discretion, and apologize to the victims and law enforcement.”
Adams should be grateful. He is only remorseful because he was caught and publicly humiliated.
Adam’s deliverance comes as no surprise for two reasons. First, Soros-backed Hennepin County District Attorney Mary Moriarty, 59, has developed a reputation for leniency – at least for those with the right political affiliations. Even Minnesota’s progressive Attorney General, Keith Ellison, reportedly clashed with Moriarty over her soft-on-crime approach during her first year in office, according to the New York Post.
Second, just days before Adams went on his vandalism spree, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz publicly vilified Elon Musk during a town hall in Youngstown, Ohio. He said, “It’s okay in America to be successful, we should celebrate that. My beef is once you get successful, don’t be a greedy b**tard and not pay your taxes. What we should demonize is people like Elon Musk.”
Not long before that, Walz openly cheered the decline in Tesla’s stock price, making his disdain for the company and its CEO abundantly clear.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has said she will treat attacks on Tesla vehicles and dealerships as “domestic terrorism.” Moriarty’s decision not to file charges against Adams sparked calls on social media for federal prosecution instead.
Whether that remains a possibility, however, is still unclear.
One would think that vandals like Adams would know that Teslas come equipped with a built-in suite of 360-degree cameras that provide comprehensive, real-time surveillance around the entire car. According to Tesla’s support page, these cameras are constantly recording when the vehicle is in motion and switch to Sentry Mode when the car is parked. This feature has made Teslas uniquely effective at documenting incidents like vandalism and theft, often providing clear video evidence that has helped law enforcement identify and apprehend suspects.
I suppose that while they might be aware of the cameras, for those most deeply afflicted with Musk Derangement Syndrome, the urge to lash out at anything connected to Elon Musk seems to overpower reason, caution, or even basic self-preservation. In their minds, destruction becomes a form of protest, no matter how self-defeating or illegal it may be.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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