Woman faces felony for Tesla bubble gum vandalism, cops say

AVENTURA, Fla. – Police say they’ve identified and arrested the suspect who vandalized a Tesla with bubble gum at the Aventura Mall.

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Yamaris Marrero, 45, of Hallandale Beach, is now facing a felony criminal mischief charge because, according to police, the “large wad” of gum caused $2,623.66 in damage to the electric car’s door handle mechanism.

Investigators said in an arrest report that the incident happened just before 12:45 p.m. Saturday in the JCPenney parking garage.

It was captured on the car’s built-in cameras. Its owner told Local 10 News that he felt targeted as the result of “unfortunately, a divide in our country where certain views that are not accepted by a subset,” referencing controversy over Tesla founder Elon Musk’s association with President Donald Trump.

The report states that a security guard spotted her in the mall’s food court Thursday afternoon and officers took her into custody.

It states that she made an admission, which was redacted from the publicly-released document.

The criminal mischief charge was initially listed in the Aventura police arrest report as coming with a hate crime enhancement.

But the “with prejudice” portion of the charge was quickly changed in bond court Friday, downgrading the felony from a second-degree to a third-degree.

As of Friday, she was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.


About the Authors
Rosh Lowe headshot

Reporter Rosh Lowe has been covering news for nearly two decades in South Florida. He joined Local 10 in 2021.

Chris Gothner headshot

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.

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