A Chinese national who has been charged with flying a drone near a U.S. naval shipyard in Virginia is expected to appear in court next month. Court documents reveal that Mr. Shi, a foreign student visa holder, traveled to the state on January 5th to take a break from his graduate studies at the University of Minnesota. Upon arrival, he rented a car at the airport.
According to the court papers, the weather was unfavorable at the time and Mr. Shi’s drone became lodged in a local resident’s tree. In need of assistance, he approached the homeowner, who questioned him about his nationality before taking pictures of him, his identification, and the vehicle license plate. The concerned resident then contacted the Newport News Police Department (NNPD.
The court documents state that Mr. Shi appeared “very nervous” when questioned by responding NNPD officers and was unable to provide a valid reason for flying the drone. Officers provided him with the local fire department’s contact information, instructing him to reach out to retrieve his drone from the tree and remain on-site. After an hour had passed, Mr. Shi returned to his rental car and abandoned the drone.
The following day, January 7th, the resident moved the drone to their shed for law enforcement purposes after discovering that it had fallen from the tree. The FBI subsequently seized the drone and found photos and videos on its memory card. These images appeared to depict U.S. naval vessels or ships intended for use by the Navy stationed at either Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, or BAE Systems shipbuilding in Norfolk, Virginia.
The court documents noted that three commissioned submarines—the USS Boise, USS Columbus, and USS Montana—were located at NNSB on the day Mr. Shi operated his drone. The documents emphasized the sensitive nature of naval aircraft carriers, as well as nuclear submarines, which are subject to highly classified information concerning their design and construction.
Mr. Shi’s trial was initially set to commence on June 20th; however, it has now been rescheduled for July 8th. The case’s judge, Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leonard of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, wrote in a court document that “this case is so unusual based on the nature of the prosecution and the novel questions of both law and fact.
Mr. Shi identifies himself as a “startup manager” on his LinkedIn profile. He holds a bachelor’s degree from China’s Jilin University and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota. Between August 2020 and January 2021, he was employed at the State Grid Corp. of China, a state-owned enterprise in China.
Neither Mr. Shi’s lawyer nor the Justice Department were available for comment on this matter by press time when contacted by The Epoch Times.