Tipsheet

Here's What We Know About the Man Who Broke Into Katie Hobbs' Office

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  November 03, 2022 10:30 AM

An alleged burglar who broke into Arizona secretary of state and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs' campaign office reportedly does not have legal status to be in the United States and is currently wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The alleged burglar, Daniel Mota Dos Reis, 36, is from Portugal. He arrived in the United States as a registered student in 2018 and is now violating “the terms of his admission” because he failed to maintain his status as a registered student, an ICE official told KPNX.

Mota is “currently at-large for administrative immigration violations for failing to maintain his status as a registered student at an academic institution,” said Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a public affairs officer for ICE.

Phoenix Police told KPNX that Mota is homeless. In late October, he was seen breaking into at least two different office suites in a complex. One of those offices was Hobbs’ campaign headquarters. Mota Dos Reis, who has a record of shoplifting and assaulting a police officer, was released on bond before a federal immigration official could be placed on him.

After the burglary, the Hobbs campaign released a statement insinuating that her opponent, Republican candidate Kari Lake, influenced Mota Dos Reis.

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“Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit,” the statement said. “The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation.”

So far, no links between the alleged burglar and Lake were discovered, even CNN pointed out.

“The Hobbs campaign, the Democrat Katie Hobbs, what we heard from the campaign last night was that they were trying to attach this to Kari Lake’s rhetoric. So far, it appears to be a very thin attachment or a lack of evidence to any sort of political motivation,” CNN said after Mota Dos Reis was arrested.

After Hobbs indicated, without evidence, that Lake was somehow responsible for the burglary, she then refused to answer questions about it. 

“What was taken from your campaign office and do you have reason to believe this was politically motivated?” a reporter asked Hobbs. She refused to answer. 

“It’s a big deal though, that your campaign office was broken into,” a journalist pressed.

“Access to safe and legal abortion is kind of a big deal and that’s what we are hear to talk about,” Hobbs, who has refused to name a single restriction on abortion, responded.