A man accused of carrying on an affair with Kyrsten Sinema while he was a member of her Senate campaign security detail was arrested last week on charges of ransacking her Arizona home, where he threw nearly two dozen paintings into her pool and smashed expensive bottles of liquor, the authorities said.
On Aug. 30, the man, Matthew Ammel, 39, caused about $200,000 in damage to the Cave Creek, Ariz., residence of Ms. Sinema, a Democrat turned independent who served one term before leaving office in 2025, according to a probable cause statement.
Deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office responded on Sept. 3 to Ms. Sinema’s home, encountering a trail of destruction that was detailed in court documents that were released this week.
They found artwork floating in the pool, a shattered mirror and black spray paint on several paintings, said deputies, who took Mr. Ammel into custody on Sept. 17 after he was transferred from a mental health facility.
In January, Mr. Ammel’s ex-wife, Heather Ammel, sued Ms. Sinema in North Carolina, accusing her of destroying her marriage under a state law that allows aggrieved spouses to seek damages for “alienation of affection.”
The damage to Ms. Sinema’s home occurred while she was out of town, according to the deputies, who said the former senator told them that Mr. Ammel was her “former boyfriend” and provided them with text messages and security camera footage from her home.
“Kyrsten stated Ammel entered her residence and demanded that she post a video to her Twitter account,” investigators wrote. “Kyrsten stated Ammel told her that if she did not post the video, he would damage her painting every 10 minutes until Kyrsten posted the video.”
Mr. Ammel, who is described in his former wife’s lawsuit as an Army veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, was charged with one count of aggravated criminal damage.
During a brief hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court on Sept. 18, he became combative and did not appear on camera, deputies said. He was released from custody and must wear an ankle monitor.
A public defender for Mr. Ammel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Ms. Sinema, who joined a law firm, Hogan Lovells, after leaving the Senate, also did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Aspects of Ms. Sinema’s relationship with Mr. Ammel emerged earlier this year when his former wife filed a lawsuit in North Carolina accusing Ms. Sinema of seducing him and breaking up their marriage.
In that lawsuit, Heather Ammel claimed Ms. Sinema sent Mr. Ammel sexually suggestive photographs on Signal, the encrypted messaging app; chose him to accompany her on trips to Napa Valley and to a concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas; paid for him to enter psychedelic treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues; encouraged him to bring drugs on work trips so she could guide him through a psychedelic trip; and showered him with gifts.
According to the lawsuit, Ms. Sinema brought Mr. Ammel to a Taylor Swift concert in Miami in October 2024, shortly before Mr. Ammel and his wife separated.
In a March filing in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina responding to the lawsuit, Ms. Sinema said that her relationship with Mr. Ammel turned intimate in May 2024.
But a lawyer for Ms. Sinema, seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, argued that Ms. Sinema and Mr. Ammel were seeing each other outside of North Carolina and that her “conduct related to her romantic relationship with Mr. Ammel does not connect her to North Carolina in a meaningful way.”
That lawyer, Steven B. Epstein, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Neither did a lawyer for Mr. Ammel’s former wife.
Earlier this month, a judge denied Ms. Sinema’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.
During Ms. Sinema’s tenure in the Senate, she infuriated Democrats with her departure from the party and opposition to key planks of their agenda. The split came shortly after it had gained an outright majority in the Senate during the midterm elections in 2022.
In 2024, Ms. Sinema announced she would not seek re-election. Since then, Ms. Sinema has been involved in the psychedelic science industry and has discussed undergoing ibogaine treatment with the aim of preventing dementia.
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