East Bay man charged with flying drone over Space Force base

SAN FRANCISCO – An East Bay man is facing federal charges he illegally flew a drone over a Central Coast military base and took photographs, according to prosecutors.

Yinpiao Zhou, a 39-year-old Chinese citizen and Brentwood resident, is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.

If convicted of the charges, Zhou would face a statutory maximum sentence of four years in federal prison.

On Nov. 30, drone detection systems at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County spotted a drone flying over the facility, prosecutors said, citing an affidavit. The drone flew for almost an hour, reached an altitude of nearly one mile above ground and took off from Ocean Park, a public area adjacent to the base.

Base security personnel went to the park and spoke to Zhou and another person who was with him. Zhou was concealing a drone under his jacket, according to prosecutors.

After obtaining a warrant, agents searched the done and allegedly found photos of the base taken from the air.

Prosecutors said a search of Zhou’s cellphone also showed he did a Google search a month earlier for the phrase “Vandenberg Space Force Base drone rules” and messaged with another person about hacking his drone to fly higher than it could otherwise.

“This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base’s layout, which is against the law,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the news release. “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.”

Zhou was arrested Monday at San Francisco International Airport before he boarded a flight to China, according to prosecutors. He made his initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, but did not enter a plea. His arraignment will take place in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

Zhou remains in custody pending prosecutors’ appeal of a magistrate judge’s decision to release him.