Police arrest and name suspect in burglary of Arizona governor candidate Katie Hobbs’ campaign HQ

CNN

By Kyung Lah and Kate Sullivan, CNN

The Phoenix Police Department has arrested a 36-year-old man in connection with a break-in at Democratic Arizona gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs’ campaign headquarters earlier this week.

Daniel Mota Dos Reis was booked on one count of third-degree burglary, according to the department.

On Wednesday night, a patrol officer saw a news story that included a surveillance image and recognized the man shown as a suspect who had been arrested earlier in the day in connection with a separate, unrelated commercial burglary, police said in a statement Thursday.

“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,” according to the statement.

While police did not mention a potential motive in their statement, an incident report obtained by CNN said Dos Reis told authorities he “just needed a place to stay for the night because he was cold,” although it’s unclear what incident he was addressing.

CNN is working to identify an attorney for Dos Reis.

An Apple computer mouse, Apple keyboard and a black Nikon camera were taken in the incident, according to the incident report. Police had earlier said in a statement that “items were taken from the property sometime during the night.”

A source within the Hobbs campaign had told CNN that CCTV video showed the man they say broke into the campaign headquarters.

Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, faces Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake in next month’s midterms.

Nicole DeMont, who manages Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign, told CNN in a statement Wednesday that “Secretary Hobbs and her staff have faced hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of this campaign. Throughout this race, we have been clear that the safety of our staff and of the Secretary is our number one priority.”

“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,” DeMont continued. “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.”

DeMont said that intimidation “won’t work,” and expressed thanks to the Phoenix Police Department for keeping Hobbs and her team safe.

Lake on Wednesday appeared to claim without evidence that Hobbs’ campaign was lying about the motivations behind the incident and said it “sounds like a Jussie Smollett part two,” in reference to the actor who was convicted of making false reports to police that he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019.

When asked by CNN if she had a response to DeMont’s claim that the incident was a “direct result of concerted campaign of lies and intimidation” by Lake and her allies, the Arizona GOP nominee shot back and said the statement was “absolutely absurd.”

“And are you guys buying that? Are you really buying that? Because this sounds like a Jussie Smollett part two,” Lake said before launching into a lengthy attack on the media.

On Thursday, DeMont shot back in a statement, saying: “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.”

Lake also held an “Emergency Press Conference” Thursday where she criticized reporters and made claims of bias over the media’s coverage of the break-in.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Paul LeBlanc, Anna-Maja Rappard and Amanda Musa contributed to this report.