Brentwood Resident Yinpiao Zhou Arrested for Allegedly Flying a Drone Over Vandenberg Space Force Base
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on December 11 that Yinpiao Zhou, 39, a resident of Brentwood in Northern California, was arrested by federal agents on charges of flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, and taking aerial photographs of the base. Zhou was arrested on December 9 at San Francisco International Airport before boarding a China-bound flight, and made his initial appearance on December 10 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
According to the Justice Department, Zhou is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and with violation of national defense airspace; if convicted, he faces a statutory maximum of four years in federal prison. He 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 in the coming weeks. A complaint contains only allegations, and Zhou is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
United States Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California said the defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base's layout, which is against the law, adding that the security of the nation is of paramount importance and his office will continue to promote the safety of the nation's military personnel and facilities.
According to an affidavit filed on December 8 with the complaint, on November 30, 2024, drone detection systems at Vandenberg Space Force Base detected a drone flying over the base for nearly one hour, reaching an altitude of almost one mile above ground level and originating from Ocean Park, a public area next to the base. Base security personnel went to the park, spoke with Zhou and another person accompanying him, and learned that Zhou had a drone concealed in his jacket, the same one that had flown over the base.
Agents later searched Zhou's drone under a federal search warrant and found several photographs of Vandenberg Space Force Base taken from an aerial viewpoint. A search of Zhou's cellphone showed that about a month earlier he had run a Google search for the phrase "Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules" and had messaged another person about hacking his drone to allow it to fly higher than it otherwise could.
Zhou is a Chinese citizen and a lawful permanent resident of the United States who most recently returned from China in February 2024; the person accompanying him at Ocean Park had most recently entered the United States from China on November 26. The FBI is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kedar S. Bhatia and Trial Attorney Benjamin Koenigsfeld of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉县的范登堡太空军基地内 SpaceX 发射场入口。Steve Jurvetson 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The entrance to the SpaceX launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Photo by Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
