The identification is significant because another San Diego teenager and his family were previously subjected to threats, doxxing and widespread online accusations after social media users incorrectly identified him as the attacker.
Nearly three weeks after a shocking video of a young man repeatedly kicking a California sea lion at Point La Jolla exploded across social media and prompted a federal wildlife investigation, authorities have identified the person responsible.
Tyler Muehl, an 18-year-old La Jolla resident, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, August 13, to violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act after admitting that he repeatedly kicked at the resting sea lion, struck the animal, chased it as it attempted to escape and continued pursuing it until the sea lion fled over the seawall and reached the beach, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
“Federal crime. Federal consequences,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in announcing the guilty plea.
The resolution brings an unusually swift conclusion to a case that began late on July 22 and became an international social media spectacle after video of the incident circulated online. SanDiegoVille first brought widespread attention to the footage the following day, July 23, publishing the video while declining to identify any of the individuals being named by social media users because authorities had not yet confirmed who was involved.
That caution proved warranted. According to Muehl's plea agreement, the incident occurred late in the evening near Ellen Browning Scripps Park, where a California sea lion was peacefully resting atop the seawall at La Jolla Cove. Prosecutors say Muehl approached the animal with his hands raised in a fighting stance and referred to himself as “Max Holloway,” apparently invoking the former UFC featherweight champion.
What followed was more extensive than could initially be established from the viral footage alone. Muehl admitted kicking at the sea lion four separate times and making contact with the animal. Prosecutors said he twice forcefully kicked toward its face, causing the sea lion to flinch and recoil. After the second kick, the animal turned and attempted to escape.
Muehl followed it. According to the plea agreement, he chased the fleeing sea lion and kicked at it a third time. The animal stumbled on the seawall while attempting to get away, after which Muehl kicked at it for a fourth time and continued pursuing it. He stopped only after the sea lion escaped over the seawall and made its way onto the beach.
Muehl agreed in his plea that the video circulating online fairly and accurately depicts what happened.
The video apparently originated on Snapchat before being copied and distributed across Instagram and other platforms. Within hours, it generated extraordinary outrage, ultimately attracting millions of views through social media and coverage by news organizations around the country.
It also brought the incident to the attention of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose Office of Law Enforcement launched the federal investigation that ultimately resulted in Muehl's prosecution.
“Intentionally striking or kicking a marine mammal is not only illegal—it is dangerous for the well-being of the animal,” NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement West Coast Division Assistant Director Eric Morgan said Thursday.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is unlawful to “take” a protected marine mammal. The statute defines taking broadly enough to encompass harassment and pursuit that could injure an animal or disrupt behaviors including feeding, breeding, nursing, breathing and sheltering.
Muehl pleaded guilty to knowingly and unlawfully taking a marine mammal by harassing and hunting a California sea lion. The misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of one year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt on October 20 at 9:30am.
The identification also resolves another troubling chapter of the story. In the days after the video went viral, internet users attempted to identify the attacker themselves. Names, photographs, relatives, employers and even purported home addresses began circulating across Instagram, Reddit and other platforms. One name in particular became widely repeated: 18-year-old Ryland Cuttitta.
But Cuttitta wasn't the young man who kicked the sea lion. Cuttitta and his mother subsequently went public with NBC 7, saying the teenager had been falsely accused after he left what he described as a sarcastic Instagram comment calling the attack “clearly self defense.” According to the family, the comment was interpreted as evidence that he was the person in the video, and the accusation quickly took on a life of its own.
“My name is Ryland Cuttitta, and I was not part of the video,” Cuttitta told NBC 7 earlier this month. “I was not even there or associated with it in any way. It all came from an Instagram comment.”
His family said their address was subsequently posted online, abusive messages and violent threats arrived, and relatives and businesses connected to the family became targets of online harassment. Cuttitta's mother said her son was not even present at La Jolla Cove when the attack occurred and that the family had communicated with the NOAA investigator handling the case.
Online posts reviewed by SanDiegoVille demonstrate how thoroughly the incorrect identification spread. Reddit discussions repeatedly asserted as fact that Cuttitta was the attacker and encouraged users to target members of his family and businesses believed to be connected to them.
SanDiegoVille never identified Cuttitta or any other social-media suspect as the attacker. In its original July 23 story, this publication specifically noted that although numerous users were publicly identifying individuals, their identities had not been independently verified and names would be withheld unless authorities identified a suspect or charges were filed.
When Cuttitta came forward on August 3, SanDiegoVille reported his denial and the threats his family said they had received, warning that the case had become an example of the potentially destructive consequences of crowdsourced internet investigations. Ten days later, federal prosecutors have now confirmed that someone else committed the crime.
Nearly three weeks after a shocking video of a young man repeatedly kicking a California sea lion at Point La Jolla exploded across social media and prompted a federal wildlife investigation, authorities have identified the person responsible.
Tyler Muehl, an 18-year-old La Jolla resident, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, August 13, to violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act after admitting that he repeatedly kicked at the resting sea lion, struck the animal, chased it as it attempted to escape and continued pursuing it until the sea lion fled over the seawall and reached the beach, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
“Federal crime. Federal consequences,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in announcing the guilty plea.
The resolution brings an unusually swift conclusion to a case that began late on July 22 and became an international social media spectacle after video of the incident circulated online. SanDiegoVille first brought widespread attention to the footage the following day, July 23, publishing the video while declining to identify any of the individuals being named by social media users because authorities had not yet confirmed who was involved.
That caution proved warranted. According to Muehl's plea agreement, the incident occurred late in the evening near Ellen Browning Scripps Park, where a California sea lion was peacefully resting atop the seawall at La Jolla Cove. Prosecutors say Muehl approached the animal with his hands raised in a fighting stance and referred to himself as “Max Holloway,” apparently invoking the former UFC featherweight champion.
What followed was more extensive than could initially be established from the viral footage alone. Muehl admitted kicking at the sea lion four separate times and making contact with the animal. Prosecutors said he twice forcefully kicked toward its face, causing the sea lion to flinch and recoil. After the second kick, the animal turned and attempted to escape.
Muehl followed it. According to the plea agreement, he chased the fleeing sea lion and kicked at it a third time. The animal stumbled on the seawall while attempting to get away, after which Muehl kicked at it for a fourth time and continued pursuing it. He stopped only after the sea lion escaped over the seawall and made its way onto the beach.
Muehl agreed in his plea that the video circulating online fairly and accurately depicts what happened.
The video apparently originated on Snapchat before being copied and distributed across Instagram and other platforms. Within hours, it generated extraordinary outrage, ultimately attracting millions of views through social media and coverage by news organizations around the country.
It also brought the incident to the attention of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose Office of Law Enforcement launched the federal investigation that ultimately resulted in Muehl's prosecution.
“Intentionally striking or kicking a marine mammal is not only illegal—it is dangerous for the well-being of the animal,” NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement West Coast Division Assistant Director Eric Morgan said Thursday.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is unlawful to “take” a protected marine mammal. The statute defines taking broadly enough to encompass harassment and pursuit that could injure an animal or disrupt behaviors including feeding, breeding, nursing, breathing and sheltering.
Muehl pleaded guilty to knowingly and unlawfully taking a marine mammal by harassing and hunting a California sea lion. The misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of one year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt on October 20 at 9:30am.
The identification also resolves another troubling chapter of the story. In the days after the video went viral, internet users attempted to identify the attacker themselves. Names, photographs, relatives, employers and even purported home addresses began circulating across Instagram, Reddit and other platforms. One name in particular became widely repeated: 18-year-old Ryland Cuttitta.
But Cuttitta wasn't the young man who kicked the sea lion. Cuttitta and his mother subsequently went public with NBC 7, saying the teenager had been falsely accused after he left what he described as a sarcastic Instagram comment calling the attack “clearly self defense.” According to the family, the comment was interpreted as evidence that he was the person in the video, and the accusation quickly took on a life of its own.
“My name is Ryland Cuttitta, and I was not part of the video,” Cuttitta told NBC 7 earlier this month. “I was not even there or associated with it in any way. It all came from an Instagram comment.”
His family said their address was subsequently posted online, abusive messages and violent threats arrived, and relatives and businesses connected to the family became targets of online harassment. Cuttitta's mother said her son was not even present at La Jolla Cove when the attack occurred and that the family had communicated with the NOAA investigator handling the case.
Online posts reviewed by SanDiegoVille demonstrate how thoroughly the incorrect identification spread. Reddit discussions repeatedly asserted as fact that Cuttitta was the attacker and encouraged users to target members of his family and businesses believed to be connected to them.
SanDiegoVille never identified Cuttitta or any other social-media suspect as the attacker. In its original July 23 story, this publication specifically noted that although numerous users were publicly identifying individuals, their identities had not been independently verified and names would be withheld unless authorities identified a suspect or charges were filed.
When Cuttitta came forward on August 3, SanDiegoVille reported his denial and the threats his family said they had received, warning that the case had become an example of the potentially destructive consequences of crowdsourced internet investigations. Ten days later, federal prosecutors have now confirmed that someone else committed the crime.
The development illustrates both sides of the extraordinary power social media played in the case. Viral distribution of the footage placed enormous public attention on an act that might otherwise have gone unnoticed and helped ensure federal authorities were aware of it. But the same online machinery also transformed speculation about the attacker's identity into asserted fact, resulting in an uninvolved teenager and his family being publicly accused of a federal crime.
The case also arrives amid a much broader and increasingly contentious debate over human interaction with marine mammals along La Jolla's coastline. Point La Jolla has become home to a substantial California sea lion colony and one of San Diego's most popular wildlife viewing destinations. The animals routinely haul out on rocks, beaches and seawalls while crowds gather only feet away. Wildlife advocates have spent years documenting incidents of visitors approaching, touching, chasing and otherwise disturbing marine mammals and have repeatedly pushed for stronger barriers, surveillance and enforcement.
The July 22 attack dramatically intensified those concerns because it demonstrated what can happen after normal enforcement and monitoring diminish for the night. Unlike many encounters in which tourists simply approach animals too closely, prosecutors say Muehl deliberately approached the resting sea lion as though preparing to fight it, repeatedly kicked at it and pursued it when it attempted to escape.
The federal prosecution sends an unmistakable message that the protections surrounding La Jolla's marine mammals are not merely suggestions. For Muehl, the next chapter will unfold in federal court when he is sentenced October 20. For Cuttitta and his family, Thursday's announcement provides something they have spent nearly two weeks seeking publicly: official confirmation that the teenager accused across the internet was not the person who committed the attack.
And for the sea lion encounter that horrified San Diego and millions of people who watched it online, there is finally an identified defendant who has admitted what happened.
The case was investigated by NOAA and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Allen and Elizabet Brown of the Southern District of California.
Originally published on August 13, 2026.
The case also arrives amid a much broader and increasingly contentious debate over human interaction with marine mammals along La Jolla's coastline. Point La Jolla has become home to a substantial California sea lion colony and one of San Diego's most popular wildlife viewing destinations. The animals routinely haul out on rocks, beaches and seawalls while crowds gather only feet away. Wildlife advocates have spent years documenting incidents of visitors approaching, touching, chasing and otherwise disturbing marine mammals and have repeatedly pushed for stronger barriers, surveillance and enforcement.
The July 22 attack dramatically intensified those concerns because it demonstrated what can happen after normal enforcement and monitoring diminish for the night. Unlike many encounters in which tourists simply approach animals too closely, prosecutors say Muehl deliberately approached the resting sea lion as though preparing to fight it, repeatedly kicked at it and pursued it when it attempted to escape.
The federal prosecution sends an unmistakable message that the protections surrounding La Jolla's marine mammals are not merely suggestions. For Muehl, the next chapter will unfold in federal court when he is sentenced October 20. For Cuttitta and his family, Thursday's announcement provides something they have spent nearly two weeks seeking publicly: official confirmation that the teenager accused across the internet was not the person who committed the attack.
And for the sea lion encounter that horrified San Diego and millions of people who watched it online, there is finally an identified defendant who has admitted what happened.
The case was investigated by NOAA and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Allen and Elizabet Brown of the Southern District of California.
Originally published on August 13, 2026.
