A 36-year-old man has been arrested in connection to a break-in at the Phoenix campaign headquarters of Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for Arizona governor, local authorities said Thursday.
The suspect was identified as Daniel Mota Dos Reis by the Phoenix Police Department. Reis was recognized by a patrol officer in surveillance images taken at Hobbs’ offices after he was arrested on Wednesday in a separate commercial burglary case.
Reis was identified as transient by KTAR-FM. A Facebook account seen by The Daily Beast that appeared to belong to the 36-year-old identified him as a Phoenix resident originally from Luanda, the capital city of Angola. Information on the page reflected that he had worked various jobs in finance and accounting, and had at one point apparently been studying for a master’s degree in business administration.
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In one Facebook post from May, he made a cryptic reference to being in danger. “I’m under threat in the United States of America,” he wrote. “What a situation. I’m starting to get worried.”
After his re-arrest on Thursday, Reis was booked into Maricopa County Jail on one count of third-degree burglary, police said. An investigation into the case is ongoing.
After the Monday night burglary was reported to Phoenix authorities, officers reviewing surveillance video spotted an unidentified man in a green shirt strolling out of Hobbs’ downtown offices. During his initial arrest, Reis had been carrying a backpack with “tools used for burglaries,” according to The Arizona Republic. He also had a new camera on his person, the newspaper reported.
Police said that “multiple items” had been taken from Hobbs’ campaign headquarters, but did not provide details.
Hobbs’ campaign manager, Nicole DuMont, said Thursday afternoon that the candidate’s team was “very thankful” to the police. In her statement, DuMont tied the break-in to the rhetoric of Hobbs’ opponent, Republican Kari Lake, saying that “her refusal to condemn the threats that have become common in our politics continues to stoke chaos.”
“Our campaign to stop Kari Lake’s dangerous chaos from becoming our new reality and to build a safer, more prosperous state will not miss a beat in fighting for Arizonans,” DuMont said, according to KJZZ.
Police have not released any motive for the burglary or any evidence linking the suspect to the election or Lake’s campaign.
DuMont echoed a Wednesday evening statement from Hobbs that read in part: “Secretary Hobbs and her staff have faced hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of this campaign. Let’s be clear: for nearly two years Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit.”
That night, Lake strongly denied the allegation of a link to KTAR. “That is absolutely absurd,” she told the outlet. “Are you guys buying that?… I can’t believe she would blame my amazing people, blame me for something like that.”
