UFPD arrests man who vandalized Institute of Black Culture sign

The University of Florida Police Department announces the arrest of a 27-year-old man in connection with an overnight vandalization incident of a sign at the Institute of Black Culture.

On Nov. 17, officers were informed that the sign in front of the building of the Institute of Black Culture had been uprooted and left on the ground. Through video surveillance, officers identified Marvelle Blair as the suspect, who is not affiliated with the university but is known to law enforcement through previous interactions.

As officers were working the case, they came into contact with Blair and arrested him on charges of criminal mischief, trespass after warning and assault on a law enforcement officer. He is being held at the Alachua County Jail.

Blair has been issued a trespass warning twice — on Sept. 3, 2021 and Oct. 20, 2021 — which barred him from campus for three years. Additionally, he was previously charged with criminal mischief twice for damaging the same sign at the Institute of Black Culture during separate incidents in May 2021 and November 2021. He was found guilty in June for the November 2021 incident.

UFPD will seek prosecution against Blair to the fullest extent of the law for this third incident.

While this is the second incident in as many weeks regarding the vandalism of monuments or signs involving members of UF’s Black community, investigators do not believe the incidents are related. The investigation regarding the vandalism of the National Pan-Hellenic Council Garden is continuing.