--- title: Men Arrested and Plead Guilty for Jumping on Manatee in Florida description: Do NOT jump on manatees canonical: https://time.com/18440/florida-men-plead-guilty-to-jumping-on-manatees/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-10T19:00:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:39.022Z og:title: Florida Men Plead Guilty To Jumping On Manatees og:description: Let's hope the manatees are allowed to jump on the men in retribution og:url: https://time.com/18440/florida-men-plead-guilty-to-jumping-on-manatees/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Florida Men Plead Guilty To Jumping On Manatees twitter:description: Let's hope the manatees are allowed to jump on the men in retribution twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Florida Men Plead Guilty To Jumping On Manatees by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 10, 2014 7:00 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 10, 2014 7:00 PM UTC It should be one of those things that goes without saying, but for the record: Do not jump on manatees. Two Florida have plead guilty to harassing the endangered species after a video appeared on Facebook that showed the two young men luring manatees to a dock and then jumping on them, prosecutors said on Friday. The video shows Taylor Blake Martin and Seth Andrew Stephenson, both 22, luring manatees in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Stephenson used a hose to attract a manatee and her calf to a boat dock. When the peaceful sea cows neared, Martin cannonballed them. Now the two men face up to a year in prison and a $50,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Orlando. A sentencing date has not been set, but one can only hope the judge will consider letting the manatees jump on the men as part of their punishment for their heartless crime. **MORE:** [Woman Photographed Riding A Manatee Turns Herself In](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/10/03/woman-photographed-riding-a-manatee-turns-herself-in/) **MORE**: [Clairvoyant Manatee Predicts Denver Broncos Will Win the Super Bowl](http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/27/clairvoyant-manatee-predicts-denver-broncos-will-win-the-super-bowl/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/18440/florida-men-plead-guilty-to-jumping-on-manatees/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/18440/florida-men-plead-guilty-to-jumping-on-manatees/"},"headline":"Florida Men Plead Guilty To Jumping On Manatees","datePublished":"2014-03-10T19:00:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:39.022Z","description":"Do NOT jump on manatees","url":"https://time.com/18440/florida-men-plead-guilty-to-jumping-on-manatees/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","animals","Florida"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/18440/florida-men-plead-guilty-to-jumping-on-manatees/","name":"Florida Men Plead Guilty To Jumping On Manatees"}}]}] ```