A 42-year-old transgender woman who allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at vehicles and spray-painted “Nazi cars” at a Colorado Tesla dealership lives with her mother due to “emotional problems” and calls herself “baby” online.
Lucy Grace Nelson, also known as Justin Thomas Nelson, is accused of hurling incendiary devices at a Tesla dealership in Loveland, Northern Colorado, and vandalizing the business and vehicles on multiple occasions with graffiti “offensive and hateful in nature,” police said.
In one incident, the suspect allegedly took aim at Tesla CEO Elon Musk — who has previously been accused of antisemitism — scrawling “f—k Musk” with red paint on the front windows of the establishment and in another, sprayed “Nazi” on a company sign.
Nelson was arrested on February 24 upon returning to the Tesla dealership, allegedly in possession of additional incendiary devices and “materials attributed to vandalism,” police said at the time.
Nelson, who is listed as female on her driver’s license and Loveland Police’s booking sheet, has since been handed a federal charge of malicious destruction, and freed on a $100,000 cash bond.
Federal authorities who have taken over the prosecution refused to confirm whether Nelson is charged as a male or female, despite requests by The Post to clarify.
Nelson’s father, Claiborne “Jerry” Nelson, 82, told The Post he last spoke to her over the phone in January.
“He changed his name to Lucy a few years ago,” Claiborne told The Post.
“He’s in his early 40s but has been living with his mother who has been taking care of him.
“He has emotional problems. He hasn’t been able to keep a job.”
Claiborne said his entire family support the Democrat party, and as such “we have good reason not to like our president. [Nelson’s] not for the president or Elon Musk, but anything beyond that I don’t know.
“He has no history of being radical in any way.”
While Nelson’s motivations remain unclear, a police affidavit includes screenshots of several posts from her Facebook page which offer a glimpse into her life before the arrest.
One picture shows a Nazi flag on fire and another is a selfie of Nelson wearing a hood and face mask while staring blankly into the camera.
In a series of other posts on social media, Nelson appeared to document transitioning from male to female.
In one post Nelson wrote “baby got her first bra…behold the power of socks” alongside an image in a shirt with a full bust. Another image modeling a purple outfit from 2021 was captioned “baby got her first dress.”
A Reddit account in Nelson’s full name — active in trans discussion groups but which has since been suspended — posted in October 2023 “all bigots should be killed” before adding “morally speaking, that is… don’t actually because going to prison sucks”.
Loveland Police Department clarified the seriousness of the destruction they say Nelson was capable of.
“I know that there’s been some rumors that it was just fireworks and bottle rockets and that is not the case. That is not true,” Chris Padgett, a spokesperson for the Loveland Police Department, told Nexstar’s KDVR.
“The devices that were discovered had potential for serious damage.”
Nelson has no prior criminal history, according to police. Nelson and her mother, Wanda, did not return calls from The Post.
The Loveland Police Department said an investigation into the case began in late January.
The Tesla dealership had been vandalized and explosive devices found on the scene three separate times between January and Nelson’s arrest on Feb. 24, according to the police department.
Officers said they had caught her at the local Tesla dealer with explosive devices and vandalism materials late at night.
At least four cars worth a combined $220,000 had explosive devices, which were made from empty liquor bottles, thrown at them, according to the arrest affidavit.
Police found cans of spray paint, gasoline, empty bottles and pieces of cloth soaked with accelerant in Lucy’s car, according to federal authorities.
Photos from a criminal complaint filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and obtained by The Post show graffiti on dealership signs and vehicles including Cybertrucks. One sign had the word “Nazi” spray painted on it.
The photos from the federal arrest documents also show spot fires in the dealership lot, believed to have been started by the molotov cocktails inside vodka bottles.
The suspect can be seen throwing the explosives across the area in some of the images.
A movement called #TeslaTakedown urges shareholders to dump their Tesla shares and for car owners to sell their vehicles in response Musk heading President Trump’s cost-cutting task force, DOGE, which has cut more than 62,000 federal jobs since January.
The movement’s website organizer, “Bill & Ted” actor Alex Winter, said in a Rolling Stone op-ed that there have been demonstrations at more than 100 Tesla dealerships. However, the op-ed does not advocate for violence in any form.
President Trump told reporters on Tuesday that, going forward, he will deem violence against Tesla facilities as “domestic terrorism” because “they’re harming a great American company.”
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