Man Arrested in Vandalism at UC Irvine Research Labs

A vandal who broke into several biological research laboratories at UC Irvine Friday was arrested after smashing windows, spewing chemicals and releasing fruit flies from broken containers, a university spokesman said.

Campus police arrested John David Kelly, 21, of Anaheim, at 3:30 a.m. after several rooms were flooded with water from a fire hose and emergency showers, UCI spokesman Randall Black said.

“If he has a motive of any kind, we don’t know it,” Black said, adding that Kelly was neither enrolled as a student nor employed at the university.

Several labs at the Development Biology Center were broken into, authorities said. Hardest hit was one where biology professor Howard Lenhoff is conducting protein research, Black said. Lenhoff, who has lectured on human development and genetics, and an assistant were isolating specific proteins.

Damage was estimated at “several thousand dollars.” Researchers spent the day cleaning up the mess.

Three Irvine police officers, a police dog, two campus security officers, a janitor and the suspect went through decontamination procedures outside the building and were taken to hospitals.

All were treated and released, Black said, adding that the decontamination procedure was only a precaution.