--- title: Woman Arrested for Harassing a Sea Turtle description: Stephanie Moore learned the hard way that riding turtles is wrong canonical: https://time.com/4051168/florida-woman-turtle-riding/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-26T18:33:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:25:15.656Z og:title: Florida Woman Arrested for Harassing a Sea Turtle og:description: A photo appears to show the woman squatting over a sea turtle og:url: https://time.com/4051168/florida-woman-turtle-riding/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2db42701a806da02/698865b05f570f5277b1d94e/sea-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 561127711 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Florida Woman Arrested for Harassing a Sea Turtle twitter:description: A photo appears to show the woman squatting over a sea turtle twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2db42701a806da02/698865b05f570f5277b1d94e/sea-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Florida Woman Arrested for Harassing a Sea Turtle by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2015 6:33 PM UTC  Turtle on beach, close-up, Hawaii Turtle on beach, close-up, HawaiiGetty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2015 6:33 PM UTC A woman in Florida was [arrested](http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/florida/2015/09/26/florida-woman-arrested-for-sea-turtle-harassment/72873960/) early Saturday for harassing sea turtles after a photo of her squatting over a turtle’s back went [viral over the summer](https://www.facebook.com/Melbourne-Police-Department-135934972034/timeline/). Stephanie Marie Moore of Melbourne, Fla. was arrested for allegedly molesting a “marine turtle or eggs nest,” _First Coast News_, a Florida NBC affiliate, reported Saturday. The police discovered Moore while responding to a call about a domestic disturbance. “During the course of this investigation, officers encountered a subject with an active felony warrant,” the Melbourne Police Department posted on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Melbourne-Police-Department-135934972034/timeline/), along with a photo allegedly showing Moore hunched over a sea turtle. Moore was taken to Brevard County Jail, where her bond was set at $2000. The Marine Turtle Protection Act makes it a third-degree felony to injure, harm, harass, capture or attempt to capture any marine turtles, eggs or nests, according to FCN. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4051168/florida-woman-turtle-riding/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4051168/florida-woman-turtle-riding/"},"headline":"Florida Woman Arrested for Harassing a Sea Turtle","datePublished":"2015-09-26T18:33:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:25:15.656Z","description":"A photo appears to show the woman squatting over a sea turtle","url":"https://time.com/4051168/florida-woman-turtle-riding/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2db42701a806da02/698865b05f570f5277b1d94e/sea-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2db42701a806da02/698865b05f570f5277b1d94e/sea-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"561127711","caption":"561127711","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/4051168/florida-woman-turtle-riding/","name":"Florida Woman Arrested for Harassing a Sea Turtle"}}]}] ```