• Font Size    
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Fisherman Pleads Guilty To Stabbing Sea Lion

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +
Nov 29, 2007 4:36 am US/Pacific

Fisherman Pleads Guilty To Stabbing Sea Lion

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― All the sea lion wanted was some food.

A California fisherman has pleaded guilty in the fatal stabbing of a sea lion.

Hai Nguyen faces up to a year in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Police say Nguyen was fishing off a pier in Newport Beach last July when the sea lion snatched the bait from his fishing line. Nguyen then stabbed the animal with a steak knife, piercing its heart. The sea lion was taken to a marine mammal center in Laguna Beach, where it had to be put down.

Nguyen told a federal magistrate in Los Angeles yesterday that he never meant to kill the sea lion, just scare it away. But he acknowledged violating the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.  

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.