(KRON) — A Brentwood man was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday after he allegedly flew a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, the United States Department of Justice said.
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, was charged with failure to register an aircraft, not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.
According to an affidavit, drone detective systems at the Vandenberg base detected a drone flying overhead on Nov. 30. It flew for about one hour, went up to nearly a mile above ground level and originated from nearby Ocean Park.
Security personnel went to the park and found Zhou and another person. The drone that flew over the base was in Zhou’s jacket, the DOJ said.
After acquiring a federal search warrant, agents looked at the drone and found several photographs of the Space Force base. Zhou had previously Googled “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” and messaged someone about how to hack the drone to allow it to fly higher, per the DOJ.
Zhou is a Chinese citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States. He was arrested at SFO before boarding a flight back to China.
Zhou had recently returned to the United States from China in February. His accomplice at Ocean Park came to the United States from China four days before the drone incident.
If Zhou is convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of four years in federal prison. The FBI is investigating the situation.
