Chinese citizen faces charges for flying drone at Vandenberg Space Force Base 

Yinpiao Zhou was arrested on Dec. 9 at San Francisco International Airport before boarding a China-bound flight

– A Northern California man was arrested for allegedly flying a drone over and photographing Vandenberg Space Force Base, the US Justice Department announced on Wednesday.

Yinpiao Zhou, 39, of Brentwood, is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation, and violation of national defense airspace, according to a report by the United States Attorney’s Office Central District of California.

Zhou was arrested on Dec. 9 at San Francisco International Airport before boarding a China-bound flight and made his initial court appearance on Dec. 10 in the United States District Court in San Francisco.

Zhou remains in federal custody pending prosecutors’ appeal of a federal magistrate judge’s decision to release him. No plea was taken and his arraignment is expected to be scheduled in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

“This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base’s layout, which is against the law,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “The security of our nation is of paramount importance and my office will continue to promote the safety of our nation’s military personnel and facilities.”

According to an affidavit filed Dec. 8 with the complaint, drone detection systems at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County detected a drone flying over the base on Nov. 30. The drone flew for nearly one hour, reached an altitude of almost one mile above ground level, and launched from Ocean Park, a public area next to the base. Base security personnel spoke to Zhou and another person accompanying him at the park and discovered Zhou had concealed the drone in his jacket.

Federal agents later searched Zhou’s drone under a federal search warrant and found several aerial photographs of the base. A search of Zhou’s cellphone revealed he had conducted a Google search about one month earlier for “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” and messaged another person about hacking his drone to increase its flying height capability.

Zhou, a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States, most recently returned to the U.S. from China in February. His companion at Ocean Park had entered the United States from China on Nov. 26.

If convicted, Zhou faces a maximum sentence of four years in federal prison.

The FBI is investigating the case. Assistant United States Attorney Kedar S. Bhatia of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and Trial Attorney Benjamin Koenigsfeld of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting.

 

About the author: News Staff

News staff of the A-Town Daily News wrote and edited this article from local contributors and press releases. Scott Brennan is the publisher of this newspaper and founder of Access Publishing. Connect with him on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, or follow his blog. He can be reached at [email protected].