Mansfield Man Charged In UConn Bias Graffiti Incident

STORRS, CT — A Mansfield resident is due in Rockville Superior Court Monday to answer charges that he vandalized parts of a residence hall at the University of Connecticut last month, including putting biased and bigoted graffiti on residents' doors and elsewhere, officials said.

Daniel Clark, 20, who has no affiliation to UConn, was arrested late Thursday by UConn Police in connection with the incident that occurred in the Busby Suites complex on March 3, when he was visiting a resident, UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said.

Clark has been charged with third-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, first-degree criminal trespass, and second-degree criminal mischief.

Clark had been issued a no-trespass order by UConn Police in 2021 after previous incidents and he was barred from all UConn property, hence the trespass charge, records show.

Clark also was also charged Thursday with first-degree criminal mischief under a warrant from a 2020 incident in which he is accused of causing $9,000 in damage to fields at a UConn farm with his vehicle, a warrant shows.

UConn Police have had encounters with Clark at least four times since November 2020, including this week's two arrests, Reitz said.

Earlier incidents include

• November 2020: Clark was issued a misdemeanor summons after spray-painted explicit graffiti, including his nickname "Danny Fast Hands," was discovered on a wall near an administrative building. According to police records, Clark also admitted to spray-painting that nickname over the "Black Lives Matter" message on the UConn Spirit Rock. That action was determined not to be a criminal offense, but it led to a UConn policy update limiting Spirit Rock painting to students and student groups and a campuswide message (attached).

• December 2020: Clark was charged with one count of possessing weapons in his vehicle, including one under the driver's seat, after UConn Police stopped him on UConn-owned property in Downtown Storrs. The weapons appeared similar to regular firearms, but later were determined to be BB and pellet guns, records show.

He was released from police custody on a bond of $2,500 cash/surety on the charges related to criminal mischief on the UConn agricultural land, and on a $7,000 surety bond on the charges related to the incident at Busby Suites, records show.

He also is required to stay off all UConn property, both as a condition of his bond and through the previously enacted no-trespass order, Reitz said.