Man Who Vandalized Synagogue And Teslas, Citing Belief Elon Musk Targeted Him, Sentenced In SMC: Prosecutors

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — A 30-year-old man received a time-served sentence after pleading no contest to vandalism for crimes including scraping Teslas and spray-painting a swastika and "Neuralink," Elon Musk's startup, on a Foster City synagogue, the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.

The Burlingame Police Department reported that Yoichi Suruki, 28 at the time of the incident, said he believed that Musk was personally targeting him, which fueled his acts of vandalism.

The incidents occurred in June 2023 when Suruki, a Foster City resident, was suspected of spray-painting a backward swastika, the word "Neuralink," and the company's logo on the Peninsula Sinai Congregation temple on June 18, 2023, police said.

Neuralink is Musk's company focused on developing technology to allow people to control computers and mobile devices with their minds via brain implants.

Officers said they arrested Suruki on suspicion of defacing three Teslas in their city with similar graffiti. Foster City detectives said they used video surveillance images of Suruki's car to identify him.

Suruki admitted to vandalizing the synagogue, police said.

He was initially held at the Maguire Correctional Facility on suspicion of vandalism, possession of drug paraphernalia, and committing a crime while on bail or on his own recognizance, with bail set at $240,000, police said.

Following his plea, Suruki received a sentence of time served.