Sinema asks a judge to raise Matthew Ammel's bond after a bondsman calls her.

The new allegation in the custody fight is that Matthew Ammel caused a bail bondsman to call the protected person. TMZ reported that Colleen Clase, lawyer for former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, told the court Ammel had a bondsman phone Sinema and ask her to post his $25,000 bond, and that Clase called the call indirect contact. Sinema asked the judge to raise the bond instead of paying it. Prosecutors asked for $100,000. An indictment for felony criminal damage, and a fight over the amount of bond, are still papers. They are not a verdict on the Cave Creek damage or on who directed the call.

TMZ reported Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, citing court documents and The Arizona Republic, that Matthew Ammel had a bail bondsman telephone former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and ask her to post his $25,000 bond. Sinema's attorney, Colleen Clase, put the call in a filing. Clase wrote that it "is a form of indirect contact, constitutes witness harassment and intimidation, and causes substantial concern given the recent history of threats made against her life." Sinema did not post the bond. She asked the judge to raise it. Prosecutors asked the court to set bond at $100,000 and described Ammel as a danger to the former senator and to the public. A request for more bond is an argument about custody. It does not decide whether the damage charge is true, and it does not decide whether Ammel told the bondsman to dial.

The call is Ammel's problem only if he caused it. A no-contact order typically bars the defendant from reaching the protected person directly and from using other people to do it. Clase's filing says he had the bondsman make the call. That sentence accuses him of directing the contact. It does not find that he did. A bondsman who calls a number on his own initiative is a different fact from a defendant who instructs the bondsman to call the protected person and ask her for the premium. A judge asked to treat the call as a violation would have to decide which of those happened. TMZ also reported that Ammel reached out to Sinema once before, in September, while an order of protection was already in place. Earlier contact is part of the history of the order. It does not, standing alone, prove he directed this bondsman.

Under the bond is an indictment, not a judgment. TMZ reported that a grand jury indicted Ammel on one count of felony criminal damage, that police arrested him on Sept. 17, and that Sinema obtained a restraining order in September after alleged damage of more than $200,000 at her Cave Creek home. The same report says he allegedly dumped 22 of her paintings into the pool. In the filing Clase described a rampage at the house and threats to "take her down," and wrote that Sinema was not there when it happened. Those are allegations a lawyer wrote down. They are not findings. FOX 10 Phoenix, azfamily, and The Arizona Republic earlier reported a Sept. 29 rearrest after pretrial services flagged alleged attempts to acquire guns and tactical gear and alleged threats, including a GPS placement at a north Phoenix firearm retailer where he left a large knife to be engraved. A judge had set bond at $25,000 after prosecutors asked for $100,000 cash only. Wednesday's request is about whether that $25,000 figure stays.

Ammel has also talked about the paintings outside court. TMZ reported that he told The Republic he destroyed the artwork because he was angry about Sinema's relationship with an artificial-intelligence supporter who helped create an AI center at Arizona State University. The outlet placed that comment amid the wars in Gaza and Iran. The outlet described him as her bodyguard when she was in the Senate, later her partner, and a former Green Beret. A prosecutor can treat that interview as a statement. Saying it to a reporter is not a guilty plea in court. The indictment still has to be proved or resolved on a plea. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.