POCATELLO — A 20-year-old local man is facing felony and misdemeanor charges after police say he deliberately drove his truck into two Flock license-plate reader cameras outside the Lowe’s hardware store earlier this month.

Allyn James Carter, of Pocatello, has been charged with felony malicious injury to property and one misdemeanor count of failing to notify after a damaged property crash, according to police and court records the Idaho State Journal recently obtained.

The investigation into the incident began the night of July 7, when Chubbuck officers responded to a report of a Dodge pickup truck running over two Flock cameras in the parking lot of the Lowe’s store on Bullock Street near the Pocatello-Chubbuck border, police said.

A witness told dispatchers she had eyes on the truck, which was later found parked at a nearby restaurant.

According to court records, a Chubbuck officer contacted and interviewed Carter standing next to a maroon Dodge pickup with a flat front passenger tire and damage to its front bumper, during which Carter said he “must have hit something” while driving on Yellowstone Avenue near a restaurant. Carter later said his sister “must have hit a fence” when asked again about the damage, the police report states.

Because the cameras were located in Pocatello, Chubbuck police turned the investigation over to Pocatello officers.

Two Lowe’s employees told a Pocatello officer they were sitting in their vehicle in the parking lot when they heard the truck strike the first camera at the lot’s south entrance, then watched it park briefly at a nearby restaurant before deliberately striking a second camera at the southwest entrance, the police report states.

Officers wrote in the report that they found a piece of rubber near the second camera that appeared to have come from a vehicle.

Carter declined to speak with the Pocatello officer who responded to interview him, police said. Citing the witness statements and an estimated $5,000 to $6,000 in damage to the cameras, officers arrested Carter on the felony injury to property charge, court records show.

Police said a missing piece of rubber from Carter’s damaged front passenger tire matched the piece recovered near the second camera.

Carter’s case comes amid a wave of vandalism targeting Flock cameras nationwide.

The Associated Press has reported extensively on the automated license-plate reader systems, which have drawn both praise from law enforcement for helping solve crimes and sustained criticism over data privacy, including an AP investigation that found the federal government has used the cameras to track drivers it deems suspicious.

The devices have been shot, smashed or torn down in communities across the country in recent months as part of a broader backlash that has also prompted some cities to cancel their Flock contracts.

Pocatello police told the Journal on Wednesday that Carter’s case is but one of several active and ongoing investigations into the damage or destruction of Flock cameras across the Gate City area.

Carter appeared before 6th District Magistrate Judge David A. Hooste for an arraignment hearing via video conference from the Bannock County Jail on July 8, where he was ordered released on his own recognizance.

Carter is scheduled to appear in court again Aug. 18 for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors will attempt to present sufficient evidence to elevate the case from magistrate to district court for trial.

If convicted of felony malicious injury to property, Carter faces no less than one year and up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000. The misdemeanor charge of failing to notify after striking fixtures carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.