A Chinese national living in Los Angeles is suspected of flying a drone to take aerial photos of Vandenberg Space Force Base last month, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Zhou Yinbiao, 39, was arrested this week at San Francisco International Airport before boarding a flight to China, the Justice Department said. He is charged with failing to register an aircraft that does not provide transportation and violating national airspace.
According to prosecutors, on Nov. 30, a drone detection system at a military installation in Santa Barbara County detected a drone flying over the base.
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Officials announced the new U.S. Space Force name for Vandenberg on May 14 during a base renaming and 30th Space Wing redesignation ceremony at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. ((U.S. Space Force photo by Michael Peterson)
The drone was sent from Ocean Park, a public area adjacent to the base, and flew for nearly an hour. Officials said the plane flew to an altitude of about 1 mile above the ground during the flight.
Base security personnel went to the park and spoke with Mr. Chou and his companion.
Prosecutors said Mr. Chou had a drone hidden in his jacket that flew over the base.
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Autonomous AV8 drone. (KVUE)
The drone was later searched and investigators found several aerial photos of the base, authorities said. A search of Mr. Chou's cell phone revealed that a month earlier, Mr. Chou had made a Google search for the phrase “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Regulations” about hacking drones to allow them to fly higher than normal. It turns out he was sending a message to someone else.
Mr. Zhou is a permanent resident and most recently returned from China in February. The person he was with at Ocean Park had entered the United States from China on November 26th.
Mr. Chou could be sentenced to up to four years in prison.
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Vandenberg's host force, Space Launch Delta 30, supports West Coast launch activities for the Air Force, Department of Defense, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Fox News Digital reached out to the military base.
