ENCINITAS — The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office is investigating vandalism at a Tesla dealership in Encinitas after multiple vehicles and the building were spray-painted with swastikas and profanity early Monday morning, officials said.
Deputies from the North Coastal Sheriff’s Station discovered the vandalism just after 5 a.m. while on patrol in the 1300 block of Encinitas Boulevard. No suspects have been identified, and no arrests have been made, the sheriff’s office said.
The incident occurred sometime after a March 15 protest outside the same Tesla dealership, where demonstrators rallied against federal funding cuts as part of a nationwide movement.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has embraced Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s efforts to slash government spending by targeting “waste, fraud and abuse” under the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Musk has claimed to have already saved tens of billions in American taxpayer dollars by cutting thousands of government jobs since DOGE’s inception. However, the DOGE website documenting these supposed savings has been rife with errors, including taking credit for terminating contracts that have already expired and overinflating reported savings by orders of magnitude higher than their actual value.
Over the weekend, protesters lined the street outside the Encinitas dealership, holding signs reading “Stop Trump and Musk Wrecking U.S. Gov Jobs,” “Make Lying Wrong Again,” and “Don’t Give Power to a Nazi.” The event was part of a broader demonstration organized nationally by Tesla Takedown and co-sponsored locally by Swing Left/Take Action San Diego, the Democratic Club of Carlsbad and Oceanside and Indivisible 49.
The sheriff’s office has not connected the protest to the vandalism, and the investigation is ongoing.
Authorities urged anyone with information about the vandalism to contact the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office at (858) 868-3200 or call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for tips leading to an arrest. Anonymous tips can be submitted online at www.sdcrimestoppers.org.
