Durango man and former Fort Lewis College professor with a history of arson accusations was arrested Friday on suspicion of spray painting a yellow blotch on the door of a Cybertruck.
Bradley Clark, 53, was at the center of two high-profile arson trials in 2021 in connection with a fire at south City Market. He was convicted by a jury before the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned the conviction two-years later. Clark later sat through a retrial that ended in a hung jury in 2025. He was released after prosecutors chose not to retry the case.
Clark was arrested again May 18 on suspicion of stalking and domestic violence, and then again several days later on suspicion of setting fire to the same women’s car.
He had been out on bail for several weeks before he was arrested on suspicion of criminal mischief in connection with the alleged vandalism of the Cybertruck.
At 8:15 p.m. Friday, Cybertruck owner Jeremy Barker called police to report his vehicle had been vandalized in the parking lot of 2477 Main Ave., according to the arrest report. Clark is alleged to have used yellow spray paint to create an 8-inch blotch in yellow paint on the driver’s side door.
Security footage captured by the vehicle’s cameras show a silver Subaru Forester registered to Clark parked directly next to Barker’s Cybertruck, the report said.
Barker shared videos with the The Durango Herald. In one of them, a man who is alleged to be Clark is seen retrieving what appears to be a can of spray paint from the passenger side of the Subaru and spraying the side of the Cybertruck. The vandal is dressed in a hat and large sunglasses, and the lower half of his face is clearly visible.
The man then places the spray can back in the passenger door before walking around to the driver’s seat. An ankle monitor is clearly visible on his right leg as he walks around the vehicle before driving away.
“It's like he’s trying to get caught,” Barker told the Herald on Tuesday.
Barker estimates the damage will cost about $1,500 to repair.
A Durango Police Department officer drove to Clark’s residence, and the same Subaru captured on the Cybertruck’s security footage was parked in the driveway. A can of yellow spray paint was tucked into the side pocket of the passenger door, the report said.
Clark told the officer he was the only one to drive the Subaru that day and denied spray painting the Cybertruck. Clark has maintained his innocence throughout all of his run-ins with law enforcement and has never been convicted of arson other than the one that was later overturned.
Clark declined to comment for this story, citing the advice from his lawyer.
This is the third time in a little over a year that Barker’s Cybertruck has been vandalized, which he contributes to misdirected anger and dislike people have toward Tesla’s owner Elon Musk.
Musk, a highly polarized figure, rose to national news in the early months of Donald Trump’s second presidential term when Musk enacted a highly controversial program to slash budgets across all federal agencies. He has since been relived of that role.
Thankfully, Barker said, the Tesla Cybertruck has high-definition, surround-view cameras that are motion-activated when people or objects come within a certain vicinity of the car.
“I’m just glad that when an idiot comes along and wants to do something like this, he’s completely on video,” he said. “He (the man alleged to be Clark) sheepishly looks around only to find out that he’s on two different angles of 4K video. It’s comical.”
jbowman@durangoherald.com
