A man from China arrested after flying a drone above Vandenberg Space Force Base must remain in custody, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, a citizen of China and a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was arrested for alleging flying a drone above the base on Nov. 30. He lived in Brentwood in Contra Costa County.
Zhou has been charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.
While a federal judge in San Francisco initially agreed to release Zhou, the U.S. Attorney’s Office opposed it, leading to Friday’s hearing.
On Friday morning in a Los Angeles courtroom, U.S. District Judge Hernán Vera ordered Zhou detained or held without bail.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has argued that Zhou should remain in custody because his “lack of any ties to the community make him a serious flight risk.”
Federal officials contend that the defendant has planned his actions for weeks, including downloading special software that let him bypass restrictions on altitude and no-fly-zone restrictions.
“The brazenness, sophistication and advance planning of Zhou’s scheme suggest the court should not be comforted that Zhou will be reasonably deterred by any bail conditions,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office filing in federal court.
“Zhou did not make a youthful mistake or mere accident. This was a planned scheme that risked exposing — and may have exposed — meaningful national security information through aerial photography of an Air Force base.”
The illegal activity prompted a pause in the practices surrounding SpaceX launches from Vandenberg, including the webcast showing the countdown and first seconds of liftoff. The complete webcast resumed after Zhou’s arrest.