Man who allegedly ran over an occupied tent said he was scaring off a bear

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Adam Andrew Marini, 50, was arrested early this morning and charged with aggravated assault after allegedly running over an occupied tent with a car.

A Gainesville Police Department officer responded to a campsite in the 3800 block of NW 39th Avenue at 4:50 a.m. this morning and reportedly found a Honda CRV parked near a tent that he described as “smashed.”

The victim, who had reportedly been in a relationship with Marini for about three weeks, told the officer that she and Marini had gotten into an argument over the phone, and Marini said, “Let people know I’m mad when I get home.” She said Marini drove to the campsite in his CRV and ran over the tent while she was in it.

The officer noted that the tent was damaged and that there was a muddy tire mark on a white blanket inside the tent, along with other damaged items.

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Post Miranda, Marini spontaneously said the victim wasn’t in the tent at the time of the incident and that he was trying to scare a bear away. The officer stated that he canvassed the area for bear tracks but didn’t find any; he wrote that he saw tire marks, matching the tire marks on the blanket, leading to the tent.

Marini’s local criminal history dates back to December 2019, when he was arrested for and later convicted of domestic battery; at the time, he had six felony convictions. He is currently on probation from a 2020 case in which he took the debit card of a person who had been helping him and used it to purchase over $2,000 in goods. He has been arrested three times since then, twice for domestic battery and once for sending written threats; he was convicted on one domestic battery charge, and the other two cases were dropped.

Bail information is unavailable on weekends.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

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