A protester detained by Pasadena police during the 2014 Rose Parade gained national attention Tuesday after an animal-rights organization alleged the man infiltrated its ranks as a spy for SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.

Images from the annual New Year’s Day parade show police officers interviewing a handcuffed activist that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claims identified himself as Thomas Jones while working with the organization but who they now believe is Paul McComb, a human resources representative for SeaWorld in San Diego.

The man was among 19 demonstrators who tried to stop the SeaWorld float during the 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade and were taken into custody by police.

Officers handcuffed the protesters, placed them in a police van and took them to the police department for processing. The activists waited for each one of their compatriots to emerge, but Jones never showed, according to Lisa Lange, PETA’s senior vice president and a Pasadena resident.

When reached by his fellow arrestees, he texted back that officers released him without charges because he did not have identification, which raised questions among the group for its unusual protocol.

Lange noted those charged said they did not see Jones booked and he did not appear in court along with them as a group. “The last time we saw him was when we got to the police department,” she said. “It’s incredibly suspicious.”

One activist recalled Jones at a 2013 PETA protest during Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. “He vanished during that protest too,” Lange said. “Things just started to feel bad.”

The group’s officials then checked the addresses he had supplied and tracked them to a post office box registered to Richard Marcelino, SeaWorld’s director of security in San Diego.

After a subsequent protest in San Diego, PETA activists traced Jones’ license plate to the name Paul McComb. When they compared pictures of the two men, it appeared to be the same person, Lange said. A résumé lists McComb as a SeaWorld employee for the past five years.

Jones allegedly posted on Twitter that activists should “drain the new tanks” at SeaWorld and that they would “burn it to the ground” if the company did not go out of business.

“He kept angling for more direct action (when working with the group) — he was trying to incite people to do illegal things, violent things,” Lange said. “He actually organized a protest that he called a “direct action protest,” and at the last minute, he didn’t show up.”

She urged SeaWorld to put the money it appears to be spending on “corporate espionage” on sanctuaries for orca whales.

McComb did not return calls for comment by this new organization. When reached by Bloomberg, McComb declined to say if he worked for SeaWorld and hung up when asked about Thomas Jones, the website reported.

SeaWorld declined to answer questions about McComb or the allegations. “We are focused on the safety of our team members, guests and animals, and beyond that we do not comment on our security operations,” a company spokesman said in a statement.

“This is a responsibility we take very seriously, especially as animal-rights groups have become increasingly extreme in their rhetoric and tactics.”

The company statement noted that PETA “actively recruits animal-rights activists to gain employment at companies like SeaWorld” and pointed to a job posting for an undercover investigator.

City officials could not confirm who the man they detained was or why he may have been released while others were charged. The Pasadena Police Department had no record of either a Thomas Jones or Paul McComb being arrested, according to Lt. Mark Goodman.

“Dozens of people every day get detained in connection with investigations — not all of those people are arrested,” said Goodman, who was unable to say why the department released McComb or if the man’s employment played a part in the decision.

He said the only records that may exist would be the arresting officer’s notebook, but that the department has “no interest” in identifying the protester.