LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Colorado dentist charged last week with starting a fire that damaged a transformer on a solar power system outside of Las Vegas told investigators he wanted to send a message supporting clean energy and denying that his intent was sabotage, police said in an arrest report obtained Wednesday.
“I burned it,” Mohammed Reza Mesmarian told police detectives during questioning following his Jan. 5 arrest at a trailer parked at a campground near Lake Mead, the Colorado River reservoir outside of Las Vegas. Vegas.
“Mesmarian admitted that he knew that setting a vehicle on fire could cause damage to the (transformer) unit, but stated that he was doing it for the big message, the bigger picture, the greater good,” according to his arrest report. “He explained that the greater good was clean energy.”
Mesmarian, 34, remains in custody without bail pending mental health evaluations and a February 1 hearing. If found fit for trial, he could face felony terrorism, arson and other charges that could land him decades in state prison.
He told police early Jan. 4 that the fire that damaged Chicago-based Invenergy’s Mega Solar Array “represented progress in the world,” the report said.
Mesmarian told police he had been in Las Vegas for several days over the New Year’s holiday, thought the solar farm was a Tesla facility about 25 miles northeast of Las Vegas, and believed the transformer was connected to “the grid.” ”
The solar array provides electricity under a contract with several Las Vegas Strip properties operated by MGM Resorts International. When Invenergy shut it down, the casino company switched to statewide power grid. An MGM Resorts official said there was no effect on Strip properties.
Mesmarian told police he was born in Iran. His attorney, Nick Pitaro, said Wednesday that his client is a U.S. citizen and has a college degree. His first name is spelled Mohammad on Colorado public records. His online professional profile said he attended the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Pitaro declined additional comment on Mesmarian’s case pending the mental competence hearing in state court in Las Vegas.
Mesmarian’s arrest in Nevada followed several assaults and arrests involving electrical substations in states such as Washington, Oregon and North Carolina, and an order from federal regulators for a review of safety standards on the national electricity transmission network.
The US Department of Homeland Security has also issued a national terrorism advisory bulletin, citing US critical infrastructure as potential targets of violence.
Allegations against Mesmarian bear similarities to a Utah case involving a man who was arrested in 2016 and later sentenced to federal prison for using a gun to damage an electrical substation, knocking out power in the rural area. Kane and Garfield counties.
The man, Stephen Plato McRae, spent several months before his arrest attacking power plants in remote parts of Utah and Nevada as part of what he described as a “master plan” to cut power in the West, according to court documents.
McRae told an informant that he was “stopping global warming,” and he went on a rampage against fossil fuels. The court documents said he planned another sabotage — “the grandmother” as he described it — to take out a larger Nevada power station.
In Mesmarian’s case, Las Vegas police found an iPhone linked to Mesmarian and laptops in a burnt-out Toyota Camry registered to his mother, who lives in Idaho.
Mesmarian was seen on security video as he positioned the car, rigged it to burn and sat watching the fire for about 15 minutes before walking away, according to his arrest report. Mesmarian told police he “felt at peace” and had no regrets.
There were no employees in the sprawling facility at the time. Damage was discovered after they arrived the following morning.
Mesmarian is also charged with escape after police said he tried to escape from arresting officers on two occasions. He later told police “he wanted to experience the feeling of what Black Lives Matter protesters felt when they were harassed by police.” Police did not report that Mesmarian had used a stun gun.
Repeated calls Wednesday to Mesmarian’s pediatric dentistry and braces practice in Aurora, Colorado, went to busy signals.
Records show that Mesmarian’s dental license is active, but was restricted by the Colorado Dental Board last July, and that Mesmarian filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last Oct. 5.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court records show he claimed $1.4 million in liabilities, mostly business debt related to equipment leases, but also a student loan debt of about $20,000. He claimed $17,601 in personal effects.
The Dental Board’s discipline arose from a complaint about “possible unsanitary conditions, including improper disposal of infectious waste and uncapped syringes” at Mesmarian’s practice, dated October 2021.
The board called for Mesmarian to take continuing education courses over the course of 12 months. A Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies official said Wednesday it wasn’t clear if he had. The attorney who represented Mesmarian in the case said he is no longer representing him.
A lawyer who represented Mesmarian in the bankruptcy case did not immediately respond to reports from The Associated Press.
