Three South Carolina teenagers have been arrested for allegedly sawing down and torching automated surveillance equipment in Chester County on 15 August 2026.
Nineteen-year-old suspects Blaze Fuller, Samuel Carlisle, and James Ryerson face multiple felony charges of conspiracy and malicious injury to property following a destructive late-night attack on Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras along Harmony Church Road in Edgemoor.
According to the Chester County Sheriff's Office, they bypassed security poles with saws and battered the digital units with hammers until internal lithium battery packs exploded into roaring flames in the Edgemoor area.
The Sheriff's Office estimated damage to the surveillance equipment at $5,150 (£3,800). Fuller, Carlisle, and Ryerson were charged individually on 18 August. Both Ryerson and Carlisle were charged with four offences each: two counts of conspiracy and two counts of malicious injury to personal property involving damage valued between $2,000 and $10,000.
Fuller was charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of malicious injury to personal property, with the alleged damage valued at more than $2,000 but less than $10,000. All three of them have since been released on bail.
The high-profile arrests lay bare a bubbling undercurrent of nationwide civilian rage directed against private corporate surveillance networks that aggregate and store millions of daily motorist movements without explicit consent.
Authorities discovered the damage when a deputy noticed that the two Flock cameras were offline on 16 August. Upon arriving at the scene, the deputy discovered the two cameras badly damaged, one of which was burned.
According to the documents, Ryerson and Carlisle went to the sheriff's office on 17 August and admitted to the 'act of vandalism.' The duo was allegedly accompanied by a parent, with Carlisle telling deputies he felt bad about vandalising the cameras.
We are not safe until they’re all gone. #deflock #flock #nomark #freedom #saftey
The affidavit of arrest that was made public stated that Carlisle and Ryerson reportedly sawed down the cameras and proceeded to hit them with a hammer until they caught fire. Also, the warrant alleged that the duo destroyed the cameras with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population to influence government policy.
Meanwhile, Fuller was accused of having a 'tacit' agreement with the other two 19-year-olds to damage the equipment, resulting in personal property damage.
Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey said, 'Citizens have every right to hold personal convictions, question public policy and disagree with their government through open debate and civic engagement.'
'However, no one has the right to take up tools in the middle of the night and destroy public safety infrastructure because they disagree with how our community protects its citizens, he added.
He also reiterated that a political statement made through criminal destruction doesn't help advance an argument; rather, it is a crime.
The sheriff ended his statement defending the security cameras, saying that they're there to aid in finding abducted kids, solving violent crimes, and protecting neighbourhoods. He said that destroying them would put everyone at risk.
