A man from China has pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge related to flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base last year.

Yinpiao Zhou, 39, of Brentwood in Contra Costa County entered the guilty plea Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He was arrested in December and charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace, according to federal court documents.

A federal grand jury later indicted Zhou on the two misdemeanor charges.

Zhou and another person were contacted by another person on Nov. 30, the same day SpaceX rocket launched with a National Reconnaissance Office payload. 

Under the plea agreement signed earlier this month, Zhou changed his plea to guilty for one charge — violation of the national defense airspace. 

“The drone systems detected that the drone flew for nearly one hour, traveled to an altitude of almost one mile above ground level, and originated from Ocean Park, a public area next to the base,” according to a written statement. 

When base security personnel contacted Zhou, he initially denied seeing any drone pilots in the area and later admitted he had a drone inside his jacket.

Investigators later determined the drone likely flew 1.8 miles from the park into Vandenberg’s restricted area.

Armed with a federal warrant, agents later searched Zhou’s drone and found several photographs of the base taken from an aerial viewpoint. 

“A search of Zhou’s cellphone showed Zhou conducted a Google search approximately one month earlier for the phrase ‘Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules,’ and messaged with another person about hacking his drone to allow it to fly higher than it could otherwise,” the federal statement said. 

Under the plea agreement, Zhou faces a maximum sentence of one year of imprisonment, one year of supervised release and a fine of $100,000.

Zhou, a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States, most recently returned from China in February, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. 

He was taken into custody at San Francisco International Airport before boarding a China-bound flight.

His case is scheduled to return to federal court April 7 for the sentencing hearing.