> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.urgentmatter.press/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Deputies say Sinema's ex-bodyguard sank $123,015 in paintings in her pool - URL: https://www.urgentmatter.press/deputies-say-sinemas-ex-bodyguard-sank-123-015-in-paintings-in-her-pool/ - Published: 2026-10-06T17:43:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-06T17:43:09.000Z - Description: Ammel allegedly threw the paintings into the pool, smashed bottles of expensive liquor and shattered a large wall-mounted mirror. - Author: Adam Schrader - Tags: Law and Crime, #public-access The 22 paintings former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema told deputies her ex-boyfriend pulled off her walls and threw into her backyard pool had a combined reported value of $123,015, according to a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office probable cause statement reviewed by Urgent Matter. The man, former Sinema bodyguard Matthew Ammel, also left a painting near her front entrance "spray-painted with black lettering all over the painting," deputies wrote. The documents do not say what the lettering spelled out. Ammel, 39, is back in a Maricopa County jail after a second arrest. On October 1, a court commissioner authorized deputies to bring him to his October 15 arraignment "using any means necessary to include force" after he refused transport, a minute entry shows. A grand jury indicted him September 24 on one felony count of criminal damage over the August 30 incident at Sinema's home in Cave Creek, Arizona, court records show. [Add Urgent Matter on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=urgentmatter.press&ref=urgentmatter.press) Sinema was out of town that day. She told deputies Ammel went into her house and demanded that she post a video to her Twitter account, the probable cause statement shows. "Kyrsten stated Ammel told her that if she did not post the video, he would damage her painting every ten minutes until Kyrsten posted the video," deputies wrote. She did not post it. Ammel then threw the paintings into the pool, smashed bottles of expensive liquor and shattered a large wall-mounted mirror with a glass bottle, Sinema told deputies. Deputies arrived September 3, four days after the incident. They found paintings on the bottom of the pool and floating at the top, paintings marked with black letters, the broken mirror and empty spots on the walls where paintings had hung, the statement shows. Sinema gave deputies documentation of the paintings' value, which averages about $5,600 per painting. Deputies put the total damage, including the house, the bottles and the pool, above $200,000, and identified Ammel in video she provided. The Arizona Republic, which interviewed Ammel, described the works as modern Western-style paintings. The court record does not say whether any can be repaired. Urgent Matter could not identify the artists from public records and has reached out to Sinema for more information and comment. Ammel [told The Arizona Republic](https://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/national/article317439063.html?ref=urgentmatter.press) on September 30 that he had been drinking and had a mental breakdown that night. "I was pissed at the system, and I took it out on her art," Ammel told the Republic. He said he purposely left alone any artwork Sinema had received as gifts from friends, the Republic reported. The video he wanted posted was a seven-minute clip he said was filmed in 2007 during his first deployment in Iraq. The Republic said it shows soldiers giving medical care to a bloodied man they had shot, while Ammel told Arizona's Family it showed first aid to an injured service member. Deputies arrested Ammel September 17 as he was released from a mental health facility where he had been held on a mental health petition, his booking paperwork shows. That booking form listed the charge as aggravated criminal damage under a code labeled "DEFACE WORSHIP," citing a section of Arizona law that covers property "used for worship or any religious purpose." ## Sign up for Urgent Matter This article is provided free with the support of paying subscribers. Not ready for a paid subscription? Sign up for a free account today. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. The indictment instead uses the general criminal damage statute. Damage of $10,000 or more makes it a class 4 felony, with a presumptive prison term of 2.5 years for a first-time felony offender. At his first court appearance, Ammel was combative and did not come on camera, deputies told the court, [The New York Times reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/us/kyrsten-sinema-affair-bodyguard-arrest.html?ref=urgentmatter.press). He was released with an ankle monitor and ordered to leave Sinema alone. Ammel was arrested again September 29, Arizona's Family reported. Investigators alleged he had asked a mutual acquaintance to contact Sinema and had left a large hunting-style knife, which his release terms barred him from having, at a north Phoenix gun store to be engraved. Court documents also cite a North Carolina sheriff's lieutenant's warning that Ammel was trying to get a gun and tactical gear and had threatened a judge, and accuse him of saying he would "take down" Sinema, the station reported. Prosecutors asked to raise his $25,000 bond to $100,000 cash only. The court has kept Sinema's address out of the public file. Commissioner Rebecca Rennick sealed the unredacted booking form and two more documents that displayed "the Victim's name and address," minute entries show. Ammel's marriage is the subject of a separate case. Heather Ammel, who separated from him November 1, 2024, sued Sinema in North Carolina in September 2025, accusing her of alienation of affection, records show. Sinema moved the case to federal court, where U.S. District Judge David A. Bragdon in September rejected her argument that North Carolina lacked jurisdiction over her. The judge pointed to nine texts Sinema sent Ammel while he was in the state. Sinema had sworn in a November 2025 affidavit: "In no way have I ever done anything to avail myself of the privileges and protections of the laws of North Carolina." Her September 18 answer to the complaint still preserves that objection. It also admits some of the complaint's allegations. The complaint alleges that in October 2024, soon after Ammel came home to Moore County from a work trip with Sinema, she messaged him, "I miss you. Putting my hand on your heart. I'll see you soon." Sinema's lawyers responded to that paragraph with one word: "Admitted." That paragraph also quotes Heather Ammel's reply: "are you having an affair with my husband? You took a married man away from his family." Sinema admitted that on August 18, 2025, she drove to the Ammels' custody and property mediation at the Pinehurst, North Carolina, office of Heather Ammel's lawyers and sat in the parking lot waiting for Ammel. She admitted that she and Ammel took one of the couple's children to a concert in Kentucky the weekend of September 12, 2025, then drove through the night to drop the child off at school at 9 a.m. that Monday. She admitted sitting in the cul-de-sac next to the family's house on September 16, 2025, while Ammel picked up the rest of his belongings. She denied buying Ammel a Theragun massage gun, which the complaint said she wanted him to bring over so she could "work on his back." The complaint said Ammel spent "hours" in Sinema's hotel room on a March 2024 trip; her answer puts it at about one hour. Sinema has said in court that the relationship turned intimate in May 2024, the Times reported. Her answer says Ammel joined her Senate staff the next month as a salaried Defense and National Security Fellow. NOTUS reported that Sinema's campaign committee and her political action committee paid Ammel more than $128,000 between July 2024 and October 2025. A joint discovery plan filed September 29 lists "Matthew Ammel's mental health, criminal history, earnings, and earning potential" among the subjects both sides will seek evidence on. Ammel has disputed whether he was properly brought into the case. In an August 3 email to lawyers on both sides, Brent Tanner of Parker Bryan Family Law wrote that "it is Mr. Ammel's position that he was never properly served with the deposition/subpoena notice." Ammel was reluctant to talk about the lawsuit with the Republic, but told the paper Sinema did not take advantage of him and had been kind to him. *Urgent Matter is reader-supported. Please* [*consider subscribing*](https://www.urgentmatter.press/nasa-administrator-questioned-goddard-library-review-emails-show/#/portal) *to support independent arts journalism.*