FREMONT — A 24-year-old Discovery Bay man has been charged with hurling a Molotov cocktail into a van parked at the Tesla factory, though police say he was adamant that he didn’t know an employee was asleep inside at the time.
The suspect, identified in court records as Kyle Desterke, was charged with arson and vandalism, both felonies. He is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, court records show.
According to police, Desterke is a former Tesla employee who was fired last year. He allegedly showed up to the factory in Fremont shortly after midnight on May 21 with two Molotov cocktails. The employee whose van was torched told officers he was taking a nap inside when he was startled awake by shattered glass and a fire. The man escaped the van without injury.
Police said Desterke is also a suspect in a vandalism incident a week prior in which two dozen cars in the Tesla parking area had their tires slashed. No charges have been filed in connection with that incident, records show.
Desterke was identified as a suspect based on a license plate reader’s capture of a Honda registered to him leaving the scene. He confessed during a police interview but was “adamant” that he believed the van was unoccupied at the time, police said in court papers.
His next court date has been set for June 14.
