Base Jumper Charged After Allegedly Posting Video of Himself Illegally Leaping from Cliff at Yosemite

Jack Matthew Propeck allegedly claimed he used AI to create the Instagram video

NEED TO KNOW

• A man has been charged after allegedly posting a social media video of himself BASE jumping off Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park
• Jack Matthew Propeck allegedly shared the since-deleted video on Oct. 8, 2025, per a criminal complaint and affidavit obtained by SFGATE and the Los Angeles Times
• According to the affidavit, Propeck claimed that he used AI to create the Instagram video and superimpose his face on the person jumping in the clip

A man has been charged after allegedly posting a video of himself BASE jumping off Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park in California last year.

Jack Matthew Propeck is accused of using a parachute to dive into Yosemite Valley on Oct. 8, 2025, during the U.S. government shutdown, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit obtained by SFGATE and the Los Angeles Times.

Propeck is charged with delivering or retrieving a person or object by parachute, helicopter, or other airborne means, per the complaint.

The activity is banned in national parks unless it is an emergency situation or is done under a valid permit, per SFGATE.

In the affidavit to support the criminal complaint, Yosemite park ranger Cody Hays — who filed the complaint on Dec. 12 — claimed that he was forwarded a tip on Oct. 14, 2025, “about an individual BASE jumping in Yosemite National Park," per SFGate and the Los Angeles Times.

The tip allegedly featured screenshots from Propeck’s Instagram video of the BASE jump, which was posted on Oct. 8 and appears to have since been deleted.

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“The video shows an individual running off a cliff (Glacier Point) and free-falling through the air above Yosemite Valley,” the affidavit reads. “The video pans to the individual's face before and as he deploys a parachute.”

Hays said that he recognized the location as Glacier Point and that the video appeared to have been captured early in the morning.

He added that many comments under the post asked about the legality of the activity, to which @jack_propeck allegedly replied, “I have a permit.”

According to the affidavit, Yosemite National Park does not issue permits for BASE jumping.

“I identified the individual in the Glacier Point BASE jumping video through his California driver's license photo as Propeck,” Hayes claimed in the affidavit. “His California Driver's license was issued on October 23rd, 2025.”

According to the affidavit, a vehicle was found registered to Propeck and a license plate reader detected Propeck’s car entering Yosemite National Park on Oct. 7 at 12:26 p.m. and leaving Oct. 8 at 10:34 a.m. The photos from the license plate reader system showed Propeck driving the car and "wearing the same purple mirrored sunglasses" the man is wearing in the Instagram video.

The video was also posted to Facebook, per the affidavit.

Hays said he contacted Propeck on the phone on Oct. 20 to ask about the video to which the man allegedly replied that “it was not him in the video and that he just posts cool videos to his page,” adding that he uses AI (artificial intelligence) to put his face in the clips.

"There is no evidence to suggest that AI was used to make or alter the video," added Hays, per the affidavit. "The video is also consistent with other videos Propeck has posted on his Instagram account of him BASE jumping."

His next court date is set to take place on  April 7, according to the Los Angeles Times.

If found guilty, Propeck could be fined and could face up to six months in jail, per SFGATE.

PEOPLE has contacted the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, National Park Service and Propeck for comment.

PEOPLE previously reported that extreme sports enthusiasts appeared to be BASE jumping in Yosemite during the federal government shutdown last year, which is when Propeck was allegedly in the national park.

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