(LITTLETON, MA) — Police in Massachusetts are investigating fires that appear to have been “intentionally set” that destroyed seven Tesla charging stations, police said.
The fires were first reported at approximately 1:10 a.m. on Monday morning when the Littleton Police Department in Massachusetts were dispatched to The Point Shopping Center due to reports of several fires at the Tesla charging stations there, according to a statement from the Littleton Police Department.
“Chief Matthew Pinard reports that the Littleton Police Department responded to and is investigating fires at a Tesla charging station at The Point Shopping Center that are believed to be suspicious in nature,” authorities said. “Responding officers observed that several Tesla charging stations were engulfed in flames and heavy, dark smoke.”
Police said that the Littleton Electric Light & Water Department was immediately contacted and requested to shut down power but that while waiting for the electric department to arrive, another charging station caught fire.
In total, seven charging stations sustained heavy fire-related damage, police said.
Once the fires were extinguished and the electric supply was cut off, officers launched a preliminary investigation and determined that the fires appear to have been deliberately set.
“Littleton Police and Fire Departments and the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit attached to the State Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating and have determined that the fire appears to have been intentionally set,” police said.
No injuries were sustained in the fires, according to police, but authorities said that this case falls under the Arson Watch Reward Program, coordinated by the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association.
“The program offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information that solves, prevents, or detects arson crimes,” police said.
Just last week in a separate incident, a woman in Colorado was arrested after police caught her with explosives at a Tesla dealership, police said.
The 40-year-old suspect, Lucy Grace Nelson, was arrested on Feb. 25 after the Loveland Police Department in Colorado launched an “extensive investigation” on Jan. 29 following a series of vandalizations with incendiary devices at the Tesla Dealership in Loveland, Colorado, according to a statement from the police released last Wednesday.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, and his company have faced backlash since he has taken a central role in the White House as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Over the weekend, demonstrators around the United States gathered at Tesla showrooms to protest Musk and his sweeping cuts of federal spending that has led to mass layoffs of federal workers in Washington, D.C. and beyond.
The investigation into the Littleton Tesla charging station fires is currently ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — A strengthening storm system will move across the country this week, bringing blizzard conditions to the Heartland and tornadoes and damaging winds to the South.
On Monday, the storm is focused on the Rockies and the Southwest, bringing mountain snow from Southern California to Colorado.
Meanwhile, there’s an extreme fire danger in New Mexico and western Texas. The combination of gusty winds up to 65 mph and relative humidity down to 5% will make conditions ripe to spread wildfires.
As this storm moves east, severe weather will break out across the South starting Monday night and Tuesday morning from Dallas to Oklahoma City.
Damaging winds and a few tornadoes will be the biggest threat.
On Tuesday, the storm will bring dangerous winter weather conditions to the Heartland.
A blizzard warning is in effect for Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado.
Winter storm watches have been issued in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where more than 6 inches of snow and near-whiteout conditions are possible.
In the South, severe thunderstorms are expected Tuesday afternoon and evening.
Strong tornadoes are possible in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Damaging winds over 60 mph will be possible during Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans; Mobile, Alabama; and Birmingham, Alabama.
(NEW YORK) — The Mexican drug lord who founded the Sinaloa cartel with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is in plea talks with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, to resolve his case before a trial that could yield the death penalty, an assistant United States attorney said during a hearing Wednesday.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, has pleaded not guilty to a slew of federal drug and weapons charges. He had been wanted in the U.S. for more than two decades when he landed over the summer at a small airport in New Mexico where he was taken into custody.
A frail-looking Zambada appeared at the hearing in a beige smock over an orange T-shirt and reading glasses dangling from the collar. He held an earpiece to his right ear with an index finger to listen to the interpreter.
“The parties have been engaged in discussions to resolve the case pre-trial,” federal prosecutor Francisco Navarro said.
The judge asked the parties to return to court on April 22 and, in the meantime, to keep working on a plea deal. No trial date has been set.
During the hearing, Judge Brian Cogan also allowed Zambada to keep his lawyer, Frank Perez, despite a conflict over Perez’s representation of El Mayo’s son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, who is cooperating with the government and who is likely to be called to testify against his father.
“Because Vicente has information that might be used against you, and indeed because Vicente may testify against you, Mr. Perez has conflicting loyalties,” Cogan said. “You don’t have to proceed with a lawyer like Mr. Perez, who is conflicted.”
Zambada put on his glasses to read a prepared statement that said he wished to retain Perez as his lawyer despite the conflict.
“I understand that upon representing two people in the same case there will be problems,” Zambada said in Spanish. “But I don’t want a different attorney. I want Mr. Perez to represent me even if this presents a conflict.”
The successors of El Mayo and El Chapo have been waging a bloody fight for control of the Sinaloa cartel after El Mayo accused El Chapo’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, of betraying him and turning him over to the United States.
Zambada and Guzman Lopez were arrested in New Mexico in July, following an operation that a Homeland Security Investigations official told ABC News had been planned for months.
Zambada faces multiple federal indictments in jurisdictions across the U.S. and has been on the run from U.S. and Mexican law enforcement for years.
He was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court in September on 17 counts related to drug trafficking, firearms offenses and money laundering. The charges make El Mayo eligible for the death penalty. He was ordered detained pending trial.
Federal prosecutors allege that under El Mayo’s leadership, the Sinaloa cartel expanded its drug business into fentanyl manufacturing and distributed thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the U.S.
The co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, El Chapo, was extradited to the U.S. in 2017, convicted in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.
His son, Guzman Lopez, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges.
