Influencer from Florida who walked on Yellowstone hot springs avoids jail, feds say

A Florida man who walked on geothermal grounds in Yellowstone National Park won’t spend time in jail, federal officials say.

Matt Manzari plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and agreed to pay about $2,000, which includes a community service payment to the Yellowstone Forever Geologic Protection Fund and a $250 fine on Nov. 2, according to court documents.

Manzari’s agent or his attorney did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.

Manzari, a motivational speaker and online influencer from Clermont, stepped off the designated walkway near the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone and filmed a video for his TikTok account in July, a local outlet reported.

He removed the video after receiving backlash online, which is where he said he learned the stunt was illegal and could damage the ecosystem, Cowboy State Daily reported. He turned himself in to authorities.

Manzari is known for surviving an accidental electrocution that left him with 4th-and-5th-degree burn scars across his arms and torso, according to his website.

He told Cowboy State Daily the video was intended as a “light-hearted joke” to promote body positivity for those with scars and physical features they may have experienced shame over.

In the video, he walks shirtless on the surface of the Grand Prismatic spring back toward the boardwalk and acts as though he’s been swimming in the scalding groundwaters. His burn scars are clearly visible, and he says: “Oh man, they said it was hot, but gee-whiz! Do I have a rash?,” the outlet reported.

In 2021, a man from Maine plead guilty to trespassing on Old Faithful and was sentenced to 15 days in jail, McClatchy News previously reported.

Some have died after leaving the boardwalk, where the thermal ground is fragile and can give way to scalding hot groundwaters. Sometimes their bodies are completely dissolved and never recovered.

In August, just a month or so after Manzari’s stunt, a Yellowstone employee found part of a human foot in a shoe floating in the park’s Abyss Pool, McClatchy News previously reported. It is one of the deepest hot springs in the park at more than 50 feet deep, and its waters are about 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

In 2016, an Oregon man may have dissolved after trying to soak in a thermal area. Workers couldn’t find any remains, and park rangers believe he dissolved in the dangerously hot water, McClatchy News previously reported.

Thermal trespass, the formal name of the offense, is punishable by up to $5,000 in fines and six months in jail.

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