Authorities won’t charge man caught on video vandalizing Teslas in Minneapolis

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has decided not to file criminal charges against a 33-year-old man who admits inflicting more than $20,000 in damage to six Teslas in Minneapolis over a few-day span last month.

Instead, the office will file for Dylan Bryan Adams, of Minneapolis, to be entered into an adult diversion program meant for first-time, low-level offenders.

“Our main priorities are to secure restitution for the victims and hold Mr. Adams accountable,” said Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesman Daniel Borgertpoepping in a statement. “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.”

Adams works for the state Department of Human Services (DHS). A state database says he is a program consultant.

“We are reviewing the matter at this time,” read a statement from DHS sent to the Star Tribune earlier Monday. “State employees are expected to follow our code of conduct and hold themselves to the highest ethical standards through their words and actions.”

In recent months, people across the country and in the Twin Cities have vandalized Tesla vehicles in protest of Elon Musk, an advisor to President Donald Trump, and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as they significantly cut federal workers and programs.

Adams was arrested and booked into jail Wednesday morning and released Thursday afternoon.

In a statement provided Monday night, Police Chief Brian O’Hara voiced frustration about Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty deciding not to charge Adams with what would have been felony counts.

“The Minneapolis Police Department did its job,” O’Hara said. “It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified and arrested a suspect, and presented a case file to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for consideration of charges. This case impacted at least six 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.”

The estimated damage to the Teslas that Adams allegedly keyed ranged from about $1,600 on one car to $10,370 on another, according to police.

Participants in the county attorney’s diversion program are expected to sign a contract that could include conditions such as community service and restitution payments. They are also referred to services such as chemical dependency or mental health resources. Part of the goal with diversion is to reduce costs in the criminal justice system and the number of repeat offenders.

At a news conference last week, police showed car camera videos from four of the incidents. The footage showed a man approaching each vehicle and scraping it with a key. In three of the videos, he was walking a dog. In some of the videos, it appeared the man was writing something on the cars.

In a speech in Washington, D.C., in January, Musk made a straight-arm gesture that his critics viewed as a Nazi salute.

Vander Hook said she bought her car before Musk assumed his advisory role and had a sticker on her car indicating her family did not support the Trump administration.

The six Teslas were vandalized on different dates in the second half of March, and all but one were located downtown, where Adams lives.

Investigators were aided by Teslas’ high-quality cameras, which recorded some of the incidents.

This is the second time in recent weeks in Hennepin County that law enforcement has chosen to not have a Tesla vandal prosecuted.