Chinese man who used drone illegally over Vandenberg, spying for China, given slap on wrist in sentencing
Yinpiao Zhou, the Chinese man who flew a drone illegally over Vandenberg last fall in order to spy for China, has now been sentenced for his crime.
Yinpiao Zhou was sentenced Monday morning by a U.S. district judge in Los Angeles to four months in prison with a year of supervised released [sic]. He was also ordered to pay a $200 fine and $25 special assessment.
Since Zhou has been held in prison almost four months already, he will likely be released in days for time served.
All the evidence suggests he did this either willingly or unwillingly under orders from China. A second man that was with him while he flew the drone was never identified or arrested, and has likely been allowed to flee the country. Zhou himself tried to flee as well, as he was arrested at the airport as he tried to board a plane back to China. He is a Chinese citizen who is lawfully in the U.S., but having been caught spying it is astonishing that he is being allowed to remain in the country. He should be deported immediately.
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Yinpiao Zhou, the Chinese man who flew a drone illegally over Vandenberg last fall in order to spy for China, has now been sentenced for his crime.
Yinpiao Zhou was sentenced Monday morning by a U.S. district judge in Los Angeles to four months in prison with a year of supervised released [sic]. He was also ordered to pay a $200 fine and $25 special assessment.
Since Zhou has been held in prison almost four months already, he will likely be released in days for time served.
All the evidence suggests he did this either willingly or unwillingly under orders from China. A second man that was with him while he flew the drone was never identified or arrested, and has likely been allowed to flee the country. Zhou himself tried to flee as well, as he was arrested at the airport as he tried to board a plane back to China. He is a Chinese citizen who is lawfully in the U.S., but having been caught spying it is astonishing that he is being allowed to remain in the country. He should be deported immediately.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
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c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
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An American caught spying in China would be extraordinarily unlikely to receive such a lenient sentence. I think it more likely that he’d be treated to a decade at hard labor, then count himself very lucky to be immediately deported at the end of it. Just as likely, he’d be executed after a very quick trial. Where does this kid-glove treatment of a foreign spy come from?
We are not China.
Since “a year of supervised released.” is exactly what it states in the article, suggest you add [sic] to indicate that it wasn’t your typo.
Why not 20 years or so for espionage. Keep him as trading material for our people that the CCP catches. That’s how the big game is played.
Steve
That is a great idea. The state department should have quietly “recommended” it to the court.
As a quiet part of our immigration reform we should lower the amount of Chinese citizens allowed in this country for either education reasons or work reasons.
And also try to reduce the “accidental” anchor children born from China in this nation. If a third term woman wants to travel to America she could either be refused or she could sign a paper keeping the child from becoming an American if they are accidentally born here.
Or change the born here law allow the3 child to have citizenship BUT the child is sent back to their parents home nation until the child is 18 and then formally chooses US citizenship..
I was born in Germany in a civilian hospital to American parents. Until I was 18 I could have asked for German citizenship. But instead I joined the US military and also voted, thus giving up my possible German citizenship. (At least thats what I was told at the time.)