Highlights

A 19-year-old Avondale resident is facing federal criminal charges after allegedly attempting to set fire to a Surprise warehouse that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to convert into a 1,500-bed detention center, with prosecutors estimating total damage at more than $400,000.

According to federal court documents cited by the Arizona Mirror, Gabriel Mendoza-Acoltzi drove his Honda Civic to the warehouse in February, attempted to cut the building's water supply, then broke a front window with a hammer. Prosecutors wrote that he used a long torch connected to a propane tank to ignite window shades inside the lobby, then tossed a burning cardboard box and the propane tank through the broken window. The building's fire suppression system activated and contained the blaze.

Investigators recovered a burnt cardboard box filled with charcoal and an open propane tank from the lobby, according to court documents. Prosecutors wrote that ICE has already paid over $40,000 for repairs and received a quote exceeding $400,000 to address all damage.

Mendoza-Acoltzi waived his Miranda rights and told investigators he caused the damage to protest the warehouse's conversion into a detention facility. "Defendant said he wanted to stop DHS from 'hurting his people,'" prosecutors wrote in a detention memo. "Defendant said he just decided one night to 'go be Batman.'" He has pleaded not guilty.

The government argues he is a flight risk, noting he is a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen who has traveled to Mexico five times and to Brazil twice, and that he fled briefly when agents approached him before arrest. His attorney, Brian Soto, counters that the flight was a reflexive response: a plain-clothes agent in an unmarked vehicle with dark tinted windows addressed Mendoza-Acoltzi by his first name and, when asked if he was someone else, said yes. "At that moment, Mr. Mendoza perceived a threat and instinctively fled," Soto wrote in filings seeking release. Soto also noted that investigators had identified Mendoza-Acoltzi early in the investigation but did not seek his arrest for three months, arguing the delay undercuts the government's danger claim.

Soto describes his client as a 19-year-old with no criminal record, enrolled at the Universal Technical Institute and working part-time at In-N-Out, who was in regular contact with his parents. The judge ordered Mendoza-Acoltzi to remain in custody pending trial. If convicted of malicious damage to federal property, he faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security purchased the 418,400-square-foot Surprise warehouse to support President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign. The facility has drawn sustained local opposition, including more than 1,000 residents at a Surprise City Council meeting urging officials to block the project. A stop work order was issued in late April, but according to USASpending.gov, that order appears to have been lifted. The attempted arson is not isolated: police in Kansas City are separately investigating a woman who allegedly attempted to set fire to a facility planned for ICE use.

The Arizona Mirror, KTAR, and azfamily.com have all confirmed the charges. A federal court date has not been publicly scheduled.

Sources

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  1. azmirror.com retrieved 21/05/2026 20:31

Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 21/05/2026 20:31. Every claim traces to a source.