California man denies accusations that he decapitated a sea lion

When Jason Bietz took his daughter for an outing on the seaside, he didn’t think about it will end result within the federal authorities circulating a photograph of him, looking for to establish a suspect accused of sawing off a sea lion’s head and carrying it away in a plastic bag.

However that’s what occurred.

On Monday, the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries legislation enforcement workplace launched a photograph of Bietz and supplied a $20,000 reward for data resulting in an arrest, civil penalty or legal conviction within the July 27 decapitation of a sea lion at Level Pinos Seaside in Pacific Grove.

The subsequent day, the company took down the photograph and stated that no mammal components had been taken from the seaside in spite of everything.

Bietz, who lives in Hanford, says he didn’t decapitate the animal. He stated the investigation stems from a miscommunication with a fellow-beach goer that passed off whereas he and his teenage daughter, who’s enthusiastic about marine biology, have been taking a look at a useless seal.

Rashelle Diaz, a Monterey resident who reported the incident to authorities, has a special reminiscence of the occasions. She says she confronted Bietz and his daughter after she noticed him leaning over the ocean lion and prodding it with a knife.

In a video Diaz recorded of the incident, she asks Bietz what he wants a useless seal for, to which he responds, “I instructed you we’re simply taking the pinnacle.”

“For what?” she asks him.

“The cranium,” he says.

“To dry it?” she continues.

“Sure,” he responds.

Bietz instructed The Occasions on Wednesday that he doesn’t recall precisely what he stated in the course of the July confrontation however that it’s potential he stated “that I used to be simply going to take the pinnacle” as a “sensible ass, sarcastic comment.”

Bietz additionally denied accusations that he was carrying a knife on the seaside, saying that the item photographed in his hand was possible both a stick, his telephone or the lanyard hooked up to his keys.

Rashelle Diaz photographed Jason Bietz on the seaside with an object in his hand on July 27, 2025. The pair engaged in a confrontation over a useless sea lion on the seaside.

(Jason Bietz)

Bietz stated he reached out to NOAA investigators on Monday to clear his title as soon as he noticed the photograph of himself circulated by the company.

NOAA then eliminated Bietz’s photograph from its submit and famous that the person had been positioned and that it had decided that no marine mammal components have been faraway from the seaside.

When The Occasions reached out to a NOAA spokesperson for remark Wednesday, a reporter acquired an automatic reply stating that the spokesperson is furloughed as a result of federal shutdown and can reply to emails as soon as authorities capabilities resume.

The company’s preliminary submit had said {that a} man was noticed utilizing a looking knife to take away the pinnacle of a deceased sea lion round 8:40 p.m. on July 27. It additional stated that “after sawing off the seal’s head, he positioned the pinnacle in a zip-style plastic bag and left the realm.”

That mirrored accusations Diaz made to native TV station KSBW in July. She instructed the outlet that she confronted Bietz as he was “decapitating a seal he had already skinned, and separated the cranium from the physique” and that he then eliminated the pinnacle in a Ziploc bag.

Primarily based on NOAA’s replace, Diaz instructed The Occasions that she now is aware of that the pinnacle was not taken from the seaside.

“I at the moment know that he didn’t decapitate it, despite the fact that he stated that’s what he was doing, in order that’s what I had assumed that he did,” she stated Wednesday. She additionally stated she noticed the daddy and daughter carrying one thing away in a plastic bag, so she had assumed it was the cranium.

“Now he [Bietz] is in all places, saying that he’s being falsely accused,” she stated. “However I believe I actually simply stopped him within the act. I caught him, after which he wasn’t capable of do what he was planning on doing, which was my purpose.”

Underneath California’s Marine Mammal Safety Act, it’s unlawful to hurt sea lions or gather any of their components whereas useless or alive. Violations are punishable by a civil superb of as much as $36,498 per violation or a legal penalty of as much as $100,000 in fines and as much as one 12 months in jail per violation.

Throughout the recording of the encounter, Diaz additionally informs Bietz that Level Pinos Seaside is in a protected space the place it’s unlawful to take away any gadgets.

“You’ll be able to’t convey shells house, you may’t convey crustaceans house, you may’t convey skulls house, particularly,” she tells him within the video, to which he responds, “What legislation says that?”

Bietz denied accusations that he skinned the cranium of the ocean lion earlier than the confrontation with Diaz. He stated that he and his daughter discovered the carcass with the cranium already clear of pores and skin earlier that afternoon.

He supplied The Occasions with a photograph exhibiting the clear cranium hooked up to the ocean lion’s physique with the metadata stating it was taking at 3:42 p.m. — round 4 hours earlier than the confrontation with Diaz.

“She made accusations that I skinned its cranium, and I severed its head after which I took it with me,” he stated. “These statements have been 100% unequivocally refuted.”

Diaz stated she was attempting to guard marine life on native seashores and by no means supposed to personally assault Bietz.

“My foremost purpose was to unfold consciousness in regards to the legal guidelines and defending our beloved marine mammals right here,” she stated, “to not have this complete $20,000-reward-if-you-find-him-type factor.”