Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brandon Lee Mulling, 31, was arrested yesterday for sexual battery after a woman reported that he raped her in his car in the O’Connell Center parking lot during a date they had arranged on Bumble.

The victim told a University of Florida Police Department officer that she had set up a date with Mulling on the Bumble app but had told him “just kissing, nothing else” on the app. She said he picked her up around 4 a.m. on February 3 in his vehicle and drove to the O’Connell Center parking lot (250 Gale Lemerand Drive), where they began kissing. She said she told him again in the vehicle that she only wanted to kiss, but he physically forced himself on her.

The arresting officer reported that traffic cameras placed Mulling’s vehicle around the UF campus at the time of the incident.

Mulling has been charged with sexual battery. His arrest report shows a Gainesville address, but he has no court records in Alachua County; he went to high school in Naples and has traffic citations in Collier County through February 2024. Judge Phillip Pena set bail at $500,000.

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.