{"id":12299,"date":"2026-08-15T00:02:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T00:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T00:02:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T00:02:05","slug":"california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/","title":{"rendered":"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A California<\/a> teenager pleaded guilty Friday to repeatedly kicking a sea lion in the face and chasing the animal as it tried to escape, according to video of the attack.<\/p>\n

Tyler Muehl, 18, who lives in the San Diego seaside neighborhood of La Jolla, entered his plea in a federal courtroom to a misdemeanor violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act\u2019s prohibition on harassing wildlife, the Justice Department<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

“Federal crime. Federal consequences,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

SUSPECT IN VIRAL MONK SEAL HARASSMENT VIDEO SAYS HE WAS DOXXED AS FEDERAL COURT FIGHT BEGINS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The incident was investigated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Muehl admitted to kicking the sea lion on July 22 as the mammal was peacefully sitting on a seawall, federal prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

“Intentionally striking or kicking a marine mammal is not only illegal, it is dangerous for the well-being of the animal,” said NOAA official Eric Morgan.<\/p>\n

The teen approached the animal with his hands squared up as if he were preparing to fight, authorities said. As he made his approach, Muehl referred to himself as Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter<\/a> Max Holloway.<\/p>\n

He then kicked the animal four times, “which caused the sea lion to rear, flinch and immediately recoil,” prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

EL-SAYED IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER ‘SICKENING’ ANIMAL CONTROL RECORD GOES VIRAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“After the second kick, the sea lion turned and tried to flee, but Muehl chased after the animal and kicked at it a third time,” a DOJ news release states. “As the sea lion tried to get away, it stumbled on the sea wall as it fled.”<\/p>\n

Officials said the teen kicked the sea lion again and chased it until the animal made its escape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of his plea agreement, Muehl said the video, which went viral online, was a “fair and accurate recording of what occurred.”<\/p>\n

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) commented on the incident on its social media accounts.<\/p>\n

“Assault is ASSAULT, no matter the species,” the group wrote on X in a July 24 post. “Leave animals ALONE, and always speak up when you witness abuse.”<\/p>\n

Muehl faces up to one year in prison and $100,000 in fines. He is expected to be sentenced Oct. 20.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital has reached out to Muehl’s attorney for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

– FOX NEWS<\/p>\n

This article appeared on the website foxnews.com
\nThis article is taken based on Law no. 8\/1996 of Romania. News does not enjoy copyright, so they can be taken, this is our right to take news and information in its entirety and distribute them further. The content was made available to us through the rss mechanism
\nOriginal Content<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A California teenager pleaded guilty Friday to repeatedly kicking a sea lion in the face and chasing the animal as it tried to escape, according to video of the attack. Tyler Muehl, 18, who lives in the San Diego seaside neighborhood of La Jolla, entered his plea in a federal courtroom to a misdemeanor violation […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1150,1],"tags":[579,1493,531,1059,2505,35,12898,10837,414,8504,905,118,12897,168,187,113,117,1349],"class_list":["post-12299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fox-news","category-news","tag-after","tag-california","tag-face","tag-faces","tag-him","tag-in","tag-kicking","tag-lion","tag-prison","tag-repeatedly","tag-sea","tag-shows","tag-squaring","tag-teen","tag-the","tag-up","tag-video","tag-viral"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face - News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A California teenager pleaded guilty Friday to repeatedly kicking a sea lion in the face and chasing the animal as it tried to escape, according to video of the attack. Tyler Muehl, 18, who lives in the San Diego seaside neighborhood of La Jolla, entered his plea in a federal courtroom to a misdemeanor violation […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-15T00:02:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Misu Videan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Misu Videan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/\",\"name\":\"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face - News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-15T00:02:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-15T00:02:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7d76dd7ecd7d235e40cce6ec62083b69\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Prima pagin\u0103\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"Euro TV News Agency\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7d76dd7ecd7d235e40cce6ec62083b69\",\"name\":\"Misu Videan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2584ffca062277b8497cf6c9182e423c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2584ffca062277b8497cf6c9182e423c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Misu Videan\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ziaruldebanat.ro\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/author\/mihai_vidjean\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face - News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face - News","og_description":"A California teenager pleaded guilty Friday to repeatedly kicking a sea lion in the face and chasing the animal as it tried to escape, according to video of the attack. Tyler Muehl, 18, who lives in the San Diego seaside neighborhood of La Jolla, entered his plea in a federal courtroom to a misdemeanor violation […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/","og_site_name":"News","article_published_time":"2026-08-15T00:02:05+00:00","author":"Misu Videan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Misu Videan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/","url":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/","name":"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face - News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-08-15T00:02:05+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-15T00:02:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7d76dd7ecd7d235e40cce6ec62083b69"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/california-teen-faces-prison-after-viral-video-shows-him-squaring-up-repeatedly-kicking-sea-lion-in-the-face\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Prima pagin\u0103","item":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/","name":"News","description":"Euro TV News Agency","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7d76dd7ecd7d235e40cce6ec62083b69","name":"Misu Videan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2584ffca062277b8497cf6c9182e423c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2584ffca062277b8497cf6c9182e423c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Misu Videan"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ziaruldebanat.ro"],"url":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/author\/mihai_vidjean\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}