Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s bodyguard-turned-lover claims he was going through a mental breakdown brought on by stress — and was living with his ex boss at the time he was charged with breaking into her Arizona home and trashing her art collection.
Matthew Ammel, 39, acknowledged destroying $200,000 worth of property at Sinema’s Cave Creek home after she failed to submit to his demands to make a post to X sharing videos of his time in the military, Arizona Family reported.
He said he and Sinema occasionally lived together, and that during the incident, Sinema had left him in her house while he was in the middle of a mental breakdown, according to the report.
Ammel acknowledged his Aug. 30 meltdown in a statement to the local station, and sent the videos he wanted Sinema to share, the outlet reported.
In an email, he said the clips were from Ammel’s military deployment in 2007 and appear to show him and others administering first aid to a casualty.
Ammel said he wanted Sinema to use her Pentagon connections to look into why his unit didn’t receive the Presidential Unit Citation, an award for heroism, the outlet reported.
He reportedly removed 22 paintings from the walls and threw them into the backyard swimming pool, while an additional painting was found near the front entrance of the home spray-painted with black lettering.
Sinema, who was out of town at the time, reported the damage on Sept. 3, claiming Ammel told her if she didn’t post his video, he would “damage her paintings every 10 minutes” until she did so, according to court paperwork.
The 23 damaged paintings were worth a combined $123,015, with the total damage estimated to be over $200,000 when factoring in vandalism to the home and pool, according to investigators.
Ammel was taken into custody on Sept. 18 in connection with the incident, after Sinema provided text messages, video recordings, and surveillance video showing him damaging the property, investigators said.
He was booked on suspicion of criminal damage after reportedly being picked up from a behavioral health center following the filing of a petition for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation.
No bond was set during Ammel’s first court appearance, and he has since been released from custody after being fitted with an electronic monitor.
He is due back in court next week.
Ammel, an Army veteran, joined former Arizona Senator Sinema’s security detail in 2022 after retiring from the military.
His ex-wife, Heather Ammel, filed a civil lawsuit against Sinema in North Carolina under the state’s “homewrecker” law, accusing the Democrat lawmaker of intentionally pursuing her husband despite knowing he was married with three children.
She alleged that Sinema exchanged romantic messages with Ammel on the encrypted app Signal, purchased gifts such as personal massagers, paid for trips and concert tickets, as well as psychedelic treatment, and suggested taking MDMA together, according to a complaint filed.
Former Sen. Sinema did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
