WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man accused of intentionally damaging a Tesla was scheduled for a court appearance before Judge William Wooley on Tuesday. The preliminary hearing for 30-year-old Johnathan F. Erhart was rescheduled for next month according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.
On March 27, 2025, the Wichita Police Department presented the results of the investigation into an allegation of intentional damage to a Tesla Model X that occurred on March 20, in northwest Wichita, according to a statement from the District Attorney's office.
After a full review of the investigation, the district attorney charged Erhart of Jefferson County with one count of criminal damage to property, a severity level 9 non-person felony.
Under Kansas law, severity level 9 felony carries a range of sentence of 5 to 17 months in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections, depending on a defendant’s established criminal history (convictions, not arrests).
Earhart is no longer in custody in Jefferson County after meeting the requirement of a $2,500 bond, according to online jail records.