{"id":3352,"date":"2025-04-09T03:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T03:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/?p=3352"},"modified":"2025-04-09T03:28:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T03:28:13","slug":"nevada-resident-arrested-and-charged-in-connection-with-violent-tesla-arson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/nevada-resident-arrested-and-charged-in-connection-with-violent-tesla-arson\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevada resident arrested and charged in connection with violent Tesla arson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>LAS VEGAS, Nevada &#8212;<\/strong> A Las Vegas resident made his initial appearance today in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada, to face federal charges related to an arson at a Tesla collision business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul Hyon Kim, 36, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm and one count of arson. Kim was arrested by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers on March 26. He remains in federal custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Department of Justice has been clear: anyone who participates in the wave of domestic terrorism targeting Tesla properties will suffer severe legal consequences,\u201d said&nbsp;Attorney General Pamela Bondi. \u201cWe will continue to find, arrest, and prosecute these attackers until the lesson is learned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs promised, acts of violence and vandalism will not be tolerated, and today law enforcement personnel acted quickly to arrest an individual on charges including arson,\u201d said FBI Director Kash Patel. \u201cUnder Attorney General Bondi&#8217;s leadership, we will continue to pursue these investigations with the full force of law and will bring to justice anyone responsible for these attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s federal charges demonstrate our strong partnerships and collaboration with law enforcement partners and the joint pursuit to end domestic terrorism,\u201d said Acting U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami for the District of Nevada. \u201cThank you to the detectives from the Southern Nevada Counterterrorism Center (SNCTC), FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) ARMOR (All-Hazard Regional Multi-Agency Operations and Response) unit, as well as Clark County Fire Department Arson Investigators, the Clark County District Attorney\u2019s Office, the FBI, the ATF, and the Justice Department\u2019s National Security Division for their hard work and tireless efforts. We will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law and remain steadfastly committed to working with our enforcement partners to combat acts of domestic violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to allegations in the complaint, on March 18, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department patrol officers responded to an emergency call about a person setting vehicles on fire and hearing gunshots at a Tesla collision business. The Clark County Fire Department arrived to suppress the fires. During the investigation, it was determined that Molotov cocktails and a .30 caliber AR-style firearm were used to damage and destroy five Tesla vehicles, and graffiti was sprayed to write \u201cResist\u201d on the front of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On March 26, law enforcement officials executed various state search warrants related to this case, including a search warrant at Kim\u2019s residence. Inside the residence, they found various firearms, including an AR style rifle consistent with the firearm used in the March 18, incident and with a suppressor on it, a black gun belt with a pouch and a small drop of pink paint residue, a black hoodie, face masks, and a handwritten note with what appeared to be an escape plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attorney General Pamela Bondi for the Department of Justice; Director Kash Patel of the FBI; Acting U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami for the District of Nevada; Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans of the FBI Las Vegas Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Cicolani of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and Sheriff Kevin McMahill for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department made the announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If convicted, Kim faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for the unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm charge and a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison up to a maximum of 20 years in prison for the arson charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Clark County District Attorney\u2019s Office, the FBI, and the ATF are investigating the case and with significant assistance from the Clark County Fire Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Operskalski for the District of Nevada and Trial Attorney Patrick Cashman of the National Security Division\u2019s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LAS VEGAS, Nevada &#8212; A Las Vegas resident made his initial appearance today in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada, to face federal charges related to an arson at a Tesla collision business. Paul Hyon Kim, 36, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm and one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,108,110,99,97,100,98,102,107,103,104,106,101],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-centennial-hills","8":"category-city-of-las-vegas","9":"category-crime","10":"category-enterprise","11":"category-featured","12":"category-henderson","13":"category-local-news","14":"category-nellis-afb","15":"category-north-las-vegas","16":"category-paradise","17":"category-spring-valley","18":"category-summerlin","19":"category-sunrise-manor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3354,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions\/3354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.mandl.media\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}