Covington man accused of throwing rock at Hawaiian monk seal released on $25K bond, banned from Hawaii beaches

The Covington man accused of hurling a coconut-sized rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal faced a federal judge in Honolulu Wednesday.

Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, pleaded not guilty to charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.

“He was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond,” Aislinn Affinito, Chief of Major Crimes at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii, stated. “As part of his conditions of release, he is prohibited from accessing or frequenting any beaches, or approaching or attempting to approach any marine wildlife, while in the District of Hawaii.”

Earlier this month, a witness recorded what prosecutors said was a video of him throwing the rock at a Hawaiian monk seal at a Maui beach. He later made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area as special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were seeking to arrest him.

He appeared before a Seattle judge in mid-May. Animal advocate Amanda Rosbrook Das was in the courtroom.

“I’m not happy,” Rosbrook Das told KIRO Newsradio. “I mean, the fact that he wasn’t in handcuffs, he’s walking out a free man and actually going back to Hawaii in a couple weeks.”

The video drew widespread condemnation and demands for prosecution in Hawaii, including from Maui’s mayor. Scientists identified the seal as an adult male known as “R404,” NOAA said.

Witness video captures monk seal incident in Lahaina

A state Department of Land and Natural Resources officer investigated a report of Hawaiian monk seal harassment in Lahaina, the community that was largely destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023. A witness showed the officer a video of the seal swimming in shallow water while a man watched from shore.

The video showed Lytvynchuk throwing the rock, described by a witness as the size of a coconut, directly at the seal, narrowly missing its head, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.

When a witness confronted Lytvynchuk, he said “he did not care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fines,” according to the complaint.

Since the video surfaced, Lytvynchuk has faced death threats and doxxing, including receiving a package at his home containing what appeared to be feces, his defense attorney Myles Breiner told The Associated Press.

A man “brutally assaulted” Lytvynchuk, Breiner said. Lytvynchuk declined to file a police report on the assault, the attorney said.

He said his client is being treated unfairly because he’s a white outsider. “The vast majority of attacks on monk seals and turtles are by locals,” he said.

Attorney says Lytvynchuk was trying to protect turtles, not harm monk seal

Breiner explained his client had been to Hawaii previously and was familiar with sea turtles, but not Hawaiian monk seals. Lytvynchuk is a fisherman and thought the seal was an aggressive sea lion, the lawyer said.

“So, his response was not to hurt this monk seal, but to get it away from the turtles,” Breiner said.

The incident shows NOAA must do more to educate the public about protecting Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaii’s U.S. Senator Brian Schatz said in a statement.

Lytvynchuk is charged with violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Hawaiian monk seals are a critically endangered species. Only 1,600 remain in the wild.

If convicted, Lytvynchuk faces up to one year in prison for each charge. He also faces a fine of up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act and a fine of up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Contributing: Frank Lenzi, KIRO Newsradio; The Associated Press