Chinese citizen uses drone to photograph US Navy shipyard

[Chip]

The story of the "student" who flew a drone over the naval base in Norfolk at midnight and then tried to flee the country is mentioned in this interesting article:​

Mystery Drones Swarmed a U.S. Military Base for 17 Days. The Pentagon Is Stumped.​

MSN

 

[mavic3usa]

Notable quotes from the article:

"As he tried to free it using his controller a neighbor called Newport News, Va., police. Officers asked Shi why he was flying it in such foul weather, and they told him to call the fire department for help."

"By chance, the drone fell to the ground that same day and ended up with federal investigators."

"Investigators weren’t convinced but found no evidence linking him to the Chinese government. They learned he had bought the drone on sale at a Costco in San Francisco the day before he traveled to Norfolk."

"The 26-year-old Chinese national pleaded guilty and appeared in federal court in Norfolk on Oct. 2 for sentencing."

"U.S. officials have yet to determine who flew the Langley drones or why."

 

[Chip]

Notable quotes from the article:

"As he tried to free it using his controller a neighbor called Newport News, Va., police. Officers asked Shi why he was flying it in such foul weather, and they told him to call the fire department for help."

"By chance, the drone fell to the ground that same day and ended up with federal investigators."

"Investigators weren’t convinced but found no evidence linking him to the Chinese government. They learned he had bought the drone on sale at a Costco in San Francisco the day before he traveled to Norfolk."

"The 26-year-old Chinese national pleaded guilty and appeared in federal court in Norfolk on Oct. 2 for sentencing."

One thing that is not explained anywhere:

The local police knew the guy's story made no sense but told him to wait for the fire department and then ostensibly left the scene. As soon as the police left him alone, the guy high tailed it to the Tesla rental shop, returned Tesla, and then took AMTRAK from Virginia to Los Angeles where he attempted to depart on one way flight to China.

Here is my question:

How did FBI know he took train to CA where he could be intercepted before boarding flight to China?

If local police thought this was possibly a bad actor why nonchalantly tell him to wait for the fire department and then leave? One answer may be they did not think much of it until they took drone back to office and looked at the photos. But, how could they just look at photos from the drone without first getting a search warrant? Getting a search warrant can be done very quickly. But, if police just left a true criminal suspect alone to flee the scene, how do they convincingly argue later that they had probable cause to believe a crime was committed in order to get a search warrant to look at the drone's photos?

"U.S. officials have yet to determine who flew the Langley drones or why."

Right. Not even the Pentagon can explain who is operating the 100 mph drone swarms or why. The scofflaws apparently never registered their RID with the FAA. But the mere fact that it is happening suggests to me that now would not be a good time to fly a drone over a US Naval Base. Especially in the rain at midnight when you have zero plausible explanation for what you are doing or why.

 

[mavic3usa]

They have no case so they offered him 6 months instead of a couple of years behind bars waiting for a federal trial that you can't win. Pilot knows he screwed up (after they informed him of all the "bad things" he did) so he took the deal and to be honest, we're not even sure he's going to serve any time in an actual federal penitentiary. I don't know the rules of federal time served and the calculations for good behavior or even if they can just deport you instead (he gets a refund on his ticket and the government pays for the one way ticket instead). Let's be honest, there are a ton of Chinese spies in this country and a bunch of agents all over, many of them working in the NY governors office. If he hadn't crashed his drone, this would even be a story. I find it hard to believe a spy is going to openly buy a drone from Costco but I guess I haven't heard all the details of the case so it's just my opinion.