Canadian citizens are facing accusations that they are allegedly using drones to photograph sensitive military facilities in Brevard County. The White House was attributed to government activities after sightings of drones near a military base.
Canadians face several charges after federal prosecutors say they used unmanned drones to film Brevard’s sensitive military sites.
On his Instagram page, Xiao Guang Pan, who describes him as a photographer and licensed drone pilot, said he used an unmanned aerial vehicle earlier this week to film a Brevard-based defense facility without permission from federal officials. He was charged with counting. Taking unauthorized photos of defense facilities is prohibited by federal law.
Prosecutors said Pan, 71, was in the United States on a tourist visa. He was expected to go before a federal judge on Friday.
PANs could be up to one year in federal prisons in each county if convicted in federal court.
New Jersey drone sightings
The drone flew across the site for three days in January. There was no motive due to flyover of federal court documents filed in the case. Details on how drone intrusions are tracked and how they return to Pan were not released anytime soon.
The incident at Brevard’s military facility was investigated by Homeland Security, Special Investigation Air Force Office and the FBI, but several military bases in the northeast are mysterious drones along with rashes from sightings reported in New Jersey I came after reporting. In January, the White House issued a statement saying that the majority of sightings were government-related.
“After research and research, drones that were flying in large quantities across New Jersey were allowed to fly by the FAA for research and various other reasons,” said White House press chief Caroline Leavitt. This was mentioned as a question that matches the question about the incident.
In December, federal prosecutors indicted a Northern California man for flying a drone over the Vandenberg Space Force Base, the Department of Justice reported. Yinpiao Zhou, 39, was accused of failing to register an aircraft that did not provide a violation of airspace for transportation and defense.
He was placed in federal custody. In that case, according to the Department of Justice, Vandenberg’s drone detection system tracked drones flying over an hour more than a mile above the ground.
JD Gallop is Florida’s criminal justice/broken news reporter today. Please contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Or X, formerly known as Twitter: @jdgallop.
