New Orleans man accused of using Molotov cocktail on Tesla building faces new federal charges

April 28, 2026

A New Orleans man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Tesla depot on Tchoupitoulas Street was rearrested on new federal charges after bonding out last week.

A federal complaint unsealed Monday in the New Orleans-based U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana accuses the man, John Hinkhouse, of one count of arson of property used in interstate commerce.

Hinkhouse was arrested and booked last week into the Orleans Justice Center on state counts. He was released on house arrest and a $25,000 bond, but appeared again in shackles Monday in federal court on Poydras Street for an initial hearing on the additional federal count.

Magistrate Judge Donna Phillips Currault ordered Hinkhouse remanded to the U.S. Marshals’ custody pending a detention hearing, which she set for Wednesday.

It was unclear whether Hinkhouse would still face state charges after the new federal complaint. Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to inquiries.

An attorney who represented Hinkhouse in Monday’s hearing, Roger Jordan, did not immediately respond to inquiries.

It took nine days for investigators to tab Hinkhouse as a suspect after the arson. It was one of many acts of vandalism and protests aimed at the electric carmaker after the company’s founder, Elon Musk, took a leading role in President Donald Trump’s administration last year.

Investigators started looking for a suspect after a Tesla employee arrived at work on April 15 and found the building’s doorway covered in soot, along with what appeared to be remnants of a homemade explosive device.

New Orleans Fire Department and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents relied on grainy surveillance footage of a person with long hair and arm tattoos, riding a red motorcycle and wearing a graphic T-shirt with dark pants, to tab Hinkhouse as the suspect, according to the federal complaint.

At the scene, an ATF agent documented that investigators found portions of a wine bottle with fabric stuffed in the opening, shards of glass and a lighter. Bottle caps and gloves were nearby.

Agents said surveillance footage showed a person in dark clothing arriving near the scene on a motorcycle. Cameras captured a large flash and the person leaving in the vehicle, the complaint says.

Days later, agents found a red motorcycle outside an Uptown home that appeared to match the one in surveillance footage, the complaint says. Vehicle records showed Hinkhouse was the owner, the document says, and agents obtained a warrant to search his home, where they found a graphic T-shirt similar to one seen in surveillance video.

Hinkhouse was arrested April 23 at his workplace, Uptown bar Oak and Ale, according to the complaint. The restaurant did not respond to email and phone messages.

NOFD officials have said that Hinkhouse once contributed to a magazine called The Molotov Cocktail. A story called “Mr. Allen” penned by a J. Michael Hinkhouse was published on the magazine’s website. The story under that name does not appear to detail politics or criminal acts.