Dylan Bleier was an upperclassman at Oberlin the first time he first made national news. Between February and March of 2013, Bleier and an accomplice went on a month-long racist and anti-Semitic vandalism spree. According to the police report naming Bleier, on February 11, 2013, a female student was contacted via email by a person pretending to Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov:

Via Oberlin Police Department Report

On February 12, 2013, flyers (such as the ones detailed below) were placed in file folders outside of professors offices:

Via Oberlin Police Department Report

There are well over a dozen such incidents, including these anti-Muslim posters reported on February 27, 2013:

Via Oberlin Police Department Report

The most reported item was the Nazi graffiti below:

Photo via Oberlin Police Department

Bleier was expelled, but the prosecutor (allegedly reluctantly) dropped all charges against him.

It’s both shocking an entirely unsurprising that Bleier faced no charges. Using an excuse that hardly holds up to scrutiny, Bleier claimed, “I’m doing it as a joke to see the college overreact to it as they have with the other racial postings that have been posted on campus.” The police report contains a similar explanation:

Looking his social media presence, this is quite literally not believable. Before we dive into the present, though, it’s worth looking at why police were persuaded by Bleier’s excuse at the time.