Vandal busted after scrawling vile messages across 13 Teslas in California

A California man accused of scrawling vile messages across 13 Teslas in a string of late-night attacks at the same Irvine shopping plaza has been arrested after a police officer connected him to an earlier incident involving a driver who was allegedly spat on.

Max Sebastian Solomon, 25, of Irvine, was taken into custody Tuesday and is facing felony vandalism charges after investigators linked him to two separate vandalism sprees that left more than a dozen cars defaced with red spray paint, authorities said Wednesday.

The break in the case came after an Irvine police officer investigating a previous report remembered a suspect who had allegedly spat on a Tesla while carrying a takeout bag from a nearby restaurant.

“He was crossing the roadway, a Tesla was at the limit line, he spat at that vehicle, and in that case, he was carrying a takeout bag,” Irvine police spokesman Kyle Oldoerp told ABC7.

The officer later went to the restaurant and tracked down the suspect’s identity, police said.
“My understanding is, he just does not like Tesla,” Oldoerp said.

“So, he has personal beliefs or feelings towards that company and took that aggression out by committing this vandalism.”

According to investigators, surveillance footage captured a man entering a parking garage near the LA Fitness on Michelson Drive around 10:30 p.m. on July 17, shaking a can of spray paint, pulling his shirt over his mouth and vandalizing a Tesla.

The vehicle was spray-painted in red with the word “Nazi,” police said.

“Someone had written on it in big red letters so I looked around to make sure that the person wasn’t still there and then dialed 911 to get a report filed,” one victim told the outlet.

Police said four Teslas were damaged during that first incident.

“My first thought was like hey is this directed at me personally? But quickly became apparent that that wasn’t the case so I mean that’s good, but terrible that so many people were impacted,” the victim said.

Less than a week later, investigators said the suspect returned to the same shopping plaza but targeted a different parking garage, where nine more Teslas were vandalized.

The vehicles were again spray-painted with the words “Nazi” and “Fascist,” according to police.

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Before Solomon’s arrest, investigators released surveillance images of the suspect, pointing to distinctive shoes and what appeared to be a tattoo behind his right elbow in hopes someone would recognize him.

“If you notice, this man has some features that are the same with each other and especially his shoes. It’s what makes us believe it’s possibly the same guy.

“And what also stuck out to us is we believe there is a tattoo, we don’t know exactly what, behind his right elbow,” explained Irvine Police Officer Ziggy Azarcon.

“This is something that doesn’t happen every single day in Irvine so this is a very unique vandalism case. We would really like to get to the bottom of this and identify who this man is,” Azarcon added.

One victim said the hateful graffiti left him unable to drive his Tesla for several days until he found a professional willing to remove the paint at no charge.

“Obviously you don’t want to drive your car around with that written on it,” he said. “He did it for free because he was obviously offended by what happened and just did a really good deed.”

Before an arrest was made, the same victim said he hoped the suspect would be stopped before anyone else’s vehicle was targeted.

“I hope he gets the help he needs. He’s clearly very disgruntled and a confused individual, so hopefully they find him and all this can stop as soon as possible,” he said.