A 44-year-old man faces up to four years in federal prison after he flew a drone over a National Football League game in Baltimore, federal prosecutors said on Monday.
Matthew Hebert, from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, flew his drone over the M&T Bank Stadium on January 28, as the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs faced off for the AFC Championship, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Hebert flew the drone at around 330 feet for about two minutes, and took at least six photos of himself and the stadium, prosecutors said.
“During the game on January 28, 2024, the incursion of an unidentified and unapproved drone was deemed a serious enough threat that NFL Security temporarily suspended the game,” the statement said.
A brief delay lasting several minutes disrupted the first quarter of the game that day, The Baltimore Sun reported.
State police later found Hebert by tracking where his drone eventually landed, prosecutors said. He was not arrested but spoke to police, they said.
The Federal Aviation Administration typically issues a temporary flight restriction, which applies to drones, in the vicinity of a stadium whenever a major sporting event is held.
In this case, the restriction was put in place one hour before the Ravens-Chiefs game started and lasted one hour after the game finished, per prosecutors.
According to prosecutors, Hebert told police he purchased the drone from manufacturer DJI, and that an app for his drone would prevent it from being flown inside an area under a flight restriction.
Prosecutors said Hebert “relied exclusively on the DJI application” to know if he was allowed to fly the drone.
However, the app didn’t stop Hebert from flying over the stadium that day, and he told police that he assumed this meant he was in the clear to use the drone during the game, per the prosecutors.
Hebert’s drone was not registered, and he did not have a remote pilot’s license to operate it, the prosecutors said.
He now faces charges of willfully violating United States National Defense Airspace and knowingly serving as an airman without an airman’s certificate.
He could face a combined maximum penalty of four years in prison if convicted.
Hebert is expected to appear in court later in February, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs won the game with a score of 17-10.
DJI did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
