Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's ex-bodyguard and accused former lover has been arrested on a felony criminal damage charge after allegedly smashing paintings, bottles, and a mirror inside her Cave Creek, Arizona, home, the latest chapter in a scandal that includes an affair, a "homewrecker" lawsuit, and sworn deposition testimony.

Matthew Ammel, 39, an Army veteran who served on Sinema's security detail, was taken into custody on September 18 after Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies linked him to more than $200,000 in damage at the former senator's residence. Deputies had been called to the home on September 3, four days after the alleged destruction took place, and found paintings submerged at the bottom of Sinema's backyard swimming pool or floating on the surface, a shattered wall-mounted mirror, and broken glass scattered across the house and pool area, AZFamily reported.

Court documents paint a picture of targeted intimidation. Sinema told investigators she was out of town on August 30 when Ammel entered her home, demanded she post a video to her X account, and threatened to "damage her paintings every 10 minutes" until she complied. She did not post the video. Ammel then allegedly ripped 22 paintings off the walls and hurled them into the pool. He also allegedly smashed several expensive bottles of alcohol and threw a glass bottle at a large mirror, shattering it. One additional painting was found near the front entrance, spray-painted with black lettering.

Ammel was "combative" and never stood before the judge

Sinema provided investigators with text messages, video recordings, and surveillance footage that deputies reviewed to identify Ammel as the suspect. The paintings alone carried a documented value of $123,015. Combined with damage to the home and pool, the total exceeded $200,000, enough to support a class 4 felony criminal damage charge under Arizona law.

When deputies moved to arrest Ammel on September 18, they picked him up from a behavioral health center, where a petition had been filed for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation. The New York Post reported that Ammel is an Army veteran who suffers from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries sustained during multiple deployments to the Middle East.

His first court appearance did not go smoothly. Ammel never physically stood before the judge. A Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy told the court during the recorded hearing:

"They're saying that he's combative and he's in the hallway."

The judge did not set bond. Ammel was released with an electronic monitor and is due back in court soon. Sinema's team was contacted for comment on the arrest but had not responded at the time of publication.

An affair that began during Sinema's Senate tenure

The criminal case lands in the middle of a sprawling personal scandal that has followed Sinema since she left Congress. Sinema, who abandoned the Democratic Party to become an independent before declining to seek reelection, now works for the Washington-based law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells. But her post-Senate life has been dominated by fallout from a relationship with the married man she hired to protect her.

The relationship's origins trace to December 2023, when Sinema asked Ammel to serve as her security for a U2 concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Court papers in a separate civil lawsuit state that Ammel's then-wife, Heather Ammel, noticed the two had begun texting more frequently on Signal, the encrypted messaging app. On another occasion, at the Innings Festival, Sinema allegedly got "handsy" with her bodyguard. Court filings also describe trips the two took to San Francisco, a Taylor Swift concert, and Napa Valley, California.

Sinema herself, under oath during a July deposition, described when the relationship turned sexual. As Breitbart reported, she testified:

"We were staying at an Airbnb in Napa, California. We were outside. Matt kissed me. We went inside and had sex."

That encounter took place on May 27, 2024. Sinema said additional sexual encounters followed in New York, Washington, Colorado, and Arizona, but never in North Carolina, a jurisdictional distinction that matters for the civil lawsuit. Sinema admitted to the repeated encounters while she was still serving in the U.S. Senate.

Fox News reported that Sinema acknowledged she knew Ammel was married with three children during all of the sexual encounters. In late 2024, Ammel separated from Heather and moved out of their North Carolina home.

A "homewrecker" lawsuit survives Sinema's motion to dismiss

Heather Ammel did not let the matter rest. In January 2026, she filed a civil lawsuit against Sinema in federal court in North Carolina under the state's so-called "homewrecker" law, a statute that allows a spouse to sue a third party for alienation of affection. Just The News reported that the lawsuit accused Sinema of pursuing Ammel despite knowing he was married, exchanging "romantic and lascivious" messages with him over Signal, paying for psychedelic treatment for him, and giving him a job as a national security fellow in her Senate office.

Sinema's legal team moved to dismiss the case, arguing she has no connection to North Carolina and cannot be hauled into court there. U.S. District Judge David A. Bragdon rejected that argument in a ruling issued in early September. The judge pointed to nine text messages Sinema sent Ammel while he was physically in North Carolina as sufficient grounds for the state to exercise jurisdiction over her.

Judge Bragdon found it "implausible" that Sinema was unaware of Ammel's whereabouts when she texted him. The ruling cleared the lawsuit to proceed, a significant setback for Sinema's defense strategy. Heather Ammel's complaint alleged Sinema destroyed what had been "a good and loving marriage" with "genuine love and affection."

Sinema's legal team also attempted to subpoena Heather Ammel's therapy records during the litigation, a move that was contested and blocked. The aggressive tactic drew attention to the lengths Sinema's defense was willing to go in fighting the case. Political scandals involving personal misconduct are hardly rare, a Texas Democratic House candidate was recently caught soliciting explicit photos from women, but the combination of a felony criminal case and a federal civil lawsuit makes Sinema's situation unusually tangled.

Construction crews now build a wall around Sinema's property

Back in Cave Creek, the physical aftermath is still being addressed. A construction worker outside Sinema's home told AZFamily that crews had been working for about two weeks building a wall around the property. A neighbor, speaking off camera, said Sinema's plans to upgrade security date back to when she first moved in more than a year ago, prompted by threats she had received.

The neighbor also said he believed Ammel used to live at Sinema's home, recalling seeing Ammel's truck parked there and Ammel doing yard work, though the neighbor added that was "a while ago." That detail tracks with the broader timeline: a bodyguard who became a lover, moved in, and then, after the relationship apparently collapsed, allegedly returned to destroy what he could.

The wreckage Sinema faces now is both legal and political. She left the Senate as an independent, having alienated Democrats by blocking key parts of their agenda and then declining to run again. Her post-Senate career at a lobbying firm already invited criticism from good-government advocates. The affair, the lawsuit, and now the felony arrest of her former bodyguard have turned a quiet exit from public life into a sustained spectacle. Senate Democrats already face turmoil from internal scandals and infighting, and Sinema's saga, though she is no longer in office, adds to the broader portrait of a political class that struggles with basic accountability.

Sinema's team had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication. Ammel faces a class 4 felony and is due back in a Maricopa County courtroom soon. The civil lawsuit in North Carolina, meanwhile, is now cleared to move forward after Judge Bragdon's ruling. Neither case has reached resolution. What has already been established, through court filings, deposition testimony, and surveillance footage, is damaging enough on its own.

When the people who create the laws and hire the security details can't keep their own houses in order, literally, it's fair to ask what kind of judgment they brought to the job the rest of us were paying them to do.