A Southern California man who is also a Chinese citizen was arrested on a federal criminal charge which claimed he flew a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Prosecutors say the incident occurred November 30. A base security system detected an unauthorized drone flying over base airspace. Security personnel went to a public park next to the base, where they found Yinpiao Zhou.
They got a federal search warrant and seized the drone. They say it contained several photos of the base.
Zhou was arrested Monday at San Francisco International Airport as he was boarding a flight to China. The 39-year-old Brentwood man has legal status as a permanent U.S. resident. He was arrested on federal charges of violating national defense airspace and for failure to register an aircraft.