Arrest made in break-in at Arizona Dem Katie Hobbs’ campaign HQ
Phoenix police identified 36-year-old Daniel Mota Dos Reis as the man arrested in connection with a recent break-in at Democratic Arizona gubernatorial candidate and current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ campaign office, police said Thursday.
Cops had been investigating the incident since they responded to reports of a burglary at Hobbs’ office on Tuesday afternoon.
Dos Reis had already been in custody, accused of an unrelated, separate burglary, when a police officer identified him from surveillance footage taken at Hobbs’s headquarters shortly after the robbery, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
“On the night of October 26th, a patrol officer viewed a news story displaying a released image of the surveillance video. The officer recognized the man in the image as a suspect that was arrested earlier in the day for another unrelated commercial burglary,” police said in a press release. “The officer researched the arrest and learned the suspect, 36-year-old Daniel Mota Dos Reis, was still in jail but would soon be released. The officer contacted the jail and was able to re-arrest Dos Reis.”
Surveillance images published by local media outlets on Wednesday showed a young male approaching the door of Hobbs’ downtown campaign office.
Police say that Dos Reis took an Apple computer mouse, an Apple keyboard and a black Nikon camera from the campaign office worth a total of $1180.
“We are very thankful that the Phoenix Police Department acted so quickly to arrest a suspect. We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as this investigation unfolds,” the Hobbs campaign said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement also ripped Hobbs’s Republican opponent, Kari Lake, accusing her of alleging that the burglary was “staged.”
“Let me be clear, Kari Lake’s preposterous allegation that this break-in was staged is unfounded and her refusal to condemn the threats that have become common in our politics continues to stoke chaos,” the Hobbs campaign said.
Lake on Wednesday reportedly told the media, “Are you really buying that? Because this sounds like a Jussie Smollett part two” – a reference to the actor who staged a racially motivated attack, claiming it was perpetrated by supporters of Donald Trump.
The Hobbs campaign had announced the break-in on Wednesday night.
“Earlier this week, a break-in occurred at our campaign headquarters. We continue to cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate, and we are thankful to the men and women of the Phoenix Police Department for their work to keep us safe,” Hobbs’ campaign said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hobbs’ campaign went on to slam Republican rival Kari Lake and her supporters — but stopped short of specifically blaming her opponent for the break-in.
“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,” the statement said, adding that Hobbs and her staff have “faced hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of this campaign.”
“The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation.”
The GOP candidate responded late Wednesday, saying, “I can’t believe that she would blame my amazing people or blame me for something like that.”
Lake added: “I don’t even know where her campaign office is. I’m assuming it’s in a basement somewhere, because that’s where she’s been campaigning.”
Lake, a former news anchor who has echoed former President Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent, leads Hobbs by an average of 3.2 percentage points in recent polling, according to RealClearPolitics.
