OREM, Utah, Dec. 4, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Orem police are hoping the man who is missing a drone — one found hovering outside a private bathroom window and shooting video of bathroom activities — will give them a call.
According to Orem Police Lt. Craig Martinez, a local man was getting ready for work Saturday morning and heard what sounded like a drone outside. He looked out his bathroom window, saw the drone and watched it land in a church parking lot.
The man picked up the drone and delivered it to police after his work shift.
Officers identified the drone’s owner through his self-portrait, recorded on the peeping-Tom drone, which also contained photos of various other people, shot through windows into their private bathrooms and bedrooms without their knowledge or consent.
Martinez put the following notice on the Orem Police Department Facebook page to alert the owner that his missing quadcopter had been found:
“If you answer yes to ALL of the following questions please call, 801-229-7070:
1 — Are you missing a quadcopter?
2 — Did you lose it this morning, in Orem?
3 — Are you looking over your shoulder to see if the police are following you?
4 — Have you been convicted of voyeurism in the past?
5 — Does the SD card in your quadcopter camera have videos of people in their private bedrooms and/or bathrooms?
6 — On the same SD card is there a picture of you flying your quadcopter?
7 — Would you like to turn yourself in before we have to come knocking at your door, maybe on Christmas morning, with a warrant?”
The post ends with, “We know who you are, but let’s make this easier on everyone!”
Martinez said, although police know who the man is, they want people to be aware that this type of voyeurism is possible. So if you hear or see a drone suspiciously near your home, close your blinds and call your local police.
Ok, so i am a regeresterd drone pilot with a part 107. Drone pilots who do this shit give us all a bad name and i hate it. But what is worse is these Key Stone cops in Orem who don’t know crap about investagating a down drone. Listen Dragnet. There is a onboard flight log you can download from the drone using a duel USB cable from the drone to a laptop. You will need the DJI app to do this. Then, you geniuses can see where the drone was launched at among several key points. This will give you Gomers an exact address as to where this drone pilot lives. Then you Girls need to pull a dfec file. This will tell you where the operator purchased the drone and what cc card he used. This will help you win your case in Orem Kangaroo court. WTH man…
You assume they didn’t do that.
Apparently you did not read the whole article. They know who it is.
Guess you missed the part where they mentioned that they knew who he was, eh smart guy?
We’re very impressed with your expertise. Moron. Pretty much everyone knows that crap, but you have to prove how poorly endowed you are by flaunting common knowledge. What an idiot.
Funny, When I was reading his post something made me think “I bet this guy has a tiny johnson”
I’m glad others saw it too.
common knowledge? that’s a pretty ignorant assumption. You think your average, small town police dept are drone experts? LOL
That’s all common knowledge idiot. The only thing you’ve proven by you’re idiotic comments is how poorly endowed you must be.
What a pompous azzhole.
What an arrogant, smartass piece of sh** you happen to be.
Hope your drone goes out of control and cuts your pecker off.
*Keystone Kops
If he didn’t launch it from his house your brilliant instructions are useless.
Thank you Captain Obvious. From reading the whole article it sounds as if the police pretty much have the issue solved.
What makes you think it’s a DJI? You must own an Inspire with a zoom camera that can take that kind of a picture. Cheap ones won’t do that!!
I’m guessing Edward (if thats his real name) is the one the cops will be visiting in the days to come.
Actually not because i use the Before You Fly app from the FFA dumb ass. I have a aircraft radar app as well. I fly in the mountains and over streams and have over 150 hours of flight thime. I have my 107 and my drone is registered with the FAA. My videos are at Pablo Drone on youtube. I take this seriously and do put up with Local Cops that like to act like they know drone stuff. If they knew who the drone belonged to then why did they post. To show off i am guessing.
Run a background on me! I don’t think I have any outstanding warrants right now! Then again I did knock your sister up! Pretty sure you are my uncle now!
Wow, your post is a bunch of phrases and run-on sentences. Maybe you should go back to 6th grade.
Your right, i was beaten and raped when i was six years old. It had a negitive effect on my school work. I barely made it throught high school. I do catch on to the electronics stuff thought and have made a good living with it.
Why the hell go though all that when they already know his identity?
Says someone who can’t even capitalize his own name, nor spell the word “register” correctly. Have you graduated from third grade yet?
I was using auto fill sorry.
You are right! So silly if me not to spell check that rant! I guess I was to busy doing your mon to realize it!
hey smartazz — why not shut-up and read the article before you start spitting trash —
and really you are not a victim here just because you fly a drone …
Hey drone flyer, us real pilots laugh at your flying competence. Cops rules, puke wanna pilots flying toys….drool.
Dear Bonehead Droner,
Did you read the article? Do you realize it’s much SAFER for the cops to deal with this perv from the station instead of serving the warrant at his home (ya know . . . where he might decide to shoot it out)? Are you always such a tool, or do you demonstrate Ace level stupidity only on internet posts? Are you hoping to kiss a girl really soon, or are you just as happy with your sock?
Look at me, I have a small penis!
You would know dude! You hand your hand on it! Thanks for the handjob, dude!
A duel USB cable? Like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr? At least the police can spell.
Update, on my comment! The government put a clock in my truck so I do not fly drones anymore! I do not have time to stop on the side if the road and fly! I do mis it but life goes on. I do stop and drop a duce on the off-ramps when I drive through Orem Utah!
I hate it when I get drunk and comment! I never use spell check when I drink! Oops, I still think these cops are losers but what do I know right? I do know a few things about drones though!
I am more the blow the phucking thing out of the sky kind of person. When the screaming idiot that owns it shows up about their drone, same treatment. Perverts don’t waste 12 people’s time, convict on the spot and this crap will stop without a cop!
meanwhile you go to jail for murder. Over a piece of plastic. Smart move!
After hitting or missing the drone, your shot fired could hit somebody or their house/car when it hits the ground.
Any one who has ever used one of these sport drones knows how laughable it is to use for peeping in windows. The cameras are wide angle and any body parts smaller than a breadbox could even be identifiable let alone erotic at a distance greater that 12 feet. Get a life, folks.
Yet another idiot who doesn’t own a decent drone. Hello… they now have HD cameras and don’t all have wide angle lenses idiot.
You an f ing jackass.
So you’re saying if it’s a cheap drone with a lousy camera it’s OK to use it to peep in other peoples bedrooms and bathrooms?
Thank you for saying that.
I’m calling BS. You’d have to be hovering freaking CLOSE to the window to get a decent shot and chances of drift causing you to wreck are high. You’d also be flying lower than normal (even at 2nd story level) and they only way to have line of sight (good enough for flying via video feed) means you need to be CLOSE. You’d also probably have to be watching the drone as flying by camera alone that close to a house isn’t going to cut it.
I wonder if this is just yet another scary drone tactic based on false tales (ie they just took a photo of a drone and posted that). Why is the person that reported it not named, and if they truly know who it is, why aren’t they posting his photo asking for public help, or better posting his mugshot.
Mugshot or it didn’t happen….
I guess you’re not really up to date on the latest hobby drones are you idiot. They can hover in place autonomously without crashing into anything and have a range of miles not feet. Try to keep up.
Yes, mine an many other can fly miles, very high up with line of sight. You can’t send RF signals through concrete, brick or wood very well.
So you can’t be miles away if you are low enough to be at eye level with a window because the transmitter and receiver would not have line of sight. But you already knew that right?
Yet another idiot who THINKS he knows something about drones. Try to keep up junior. Modern drones have HD cameras that are very capable of taking high resolution images at close range. Moreover, they are nearly autonomous and can hover in place with minimal drift, regardless of wind conditions. Since you clearly know almost nothing about the technology, please stop wasting everyone’s time with retarded comments.
Big on calling people idiots aren’t you idiot?
Iknow, Knows he’s an idiot. What a wimp hiding behind a keyboard. I bet if you said “BOO” behind him, he’d pee his panties….
I own several, that probably cost more than 1 month of your paychecks. If you really think you can point and click and a drone will avoid a chain link fence, small branches, or powerlines you are sadly mistaken….
And Modern drones don’t have HD cameras as thats only 720p, or 1080p, they have UHD, or SUHD cameras with 4k or better resolution.
For a name like Iknow, you sure seem to not know what the hell you are talking about.
good point
I own a DJI Phantom 3 advanced and a Phantom 4 pro. Neither have zoom function, both are susceptible to wind drift. How many drones do you own? I’m a few grand into owning and flying drones pal and my experience tells me you don’t even own one. Pipe down pipsqueak.
I’m a nerd with a part 107. I was bottle fed please understand I’m important now that I have my part 107 Now let me tell you some meaning less nerd speak ,so that if you are a girl I could talk to you without having to actually look at you.
12 gauge, buckshot. The hell with the police.
Similar to ovomit giving ALL blacks a very bad name!
I don’t think that this is illegal. If you leave your window coverings open and a drone films you from outside your property line how is it so different from the neighbor up on a hill looking out of his window into your yard?
Stand in the street by my house with your drone shooting camera angles into my home some time. You’ll find out very quickly how different it is. You’ll be lucky if you can walk after the beat down.
No one is interested in taking pictures if your fat wife in her single-wide trailer dude! Trust me you are safe!
OMFnG!!!!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING, They are here for us. Run for your lives. Yes yes yes… cose your blinds, duck and cover. Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
I think this is criminal, but exactly what crime was committed? I’m not aware of the exact crimimal statute that was violated. If the drone flew farther away but had a better camera and lens would this still be a crime?
It’s a bad situation that needs to be addressed by our legislatures.
Dear Iknow… you’re an idiot!
Saying multiple times that they know who it is pretty much guarantees that the opposite is true. If they actually knew, they’d go bring the guy in and charge him. This is a Phantom – it sounds like a massive swarm of bees and is covered in very bright flashing lights – both things that would make it pretty damn terrible at spying on people without getting noticed.
This feels much closer to a publicity stunt or staged justification for a city ordinance banning drone use.
The simplest explanation though would probably be that they don’t know exactly who it is, and are hoping they’ll trick the person into coming in and confessing.
I concur with your thoughts here.
The flashing lights can be taken care of with tape but the sound of the rotors whirring can in no way shape or form be masked. Even from 120 ft up it sounds like a horde of wasps!
Great comment thread, it turned instantly into a flame war. LOL
What else do you expect? It’s a bunch of drone geeks. Of course it was going to turn into a girls slap fight.
Close the blinds!
You shouldn’t have to live in a prison just because of this nonsense.
Somewhere out there is a guy that is thinking “Guess that’s the last time he’s going to let me borrow his drone, Honey, looks like we’ll have an open seat for Christmas dinner!”
I love the way the Police have handled this. I am alarmed that there seems to be no local, or maybe even Federal & State laws in many areas if the Country that deal with drones. Why wait until a plane is brought down, or your children are suddenly the stars of some sleazy persons personal video shows. To the Orem Police Department, “Well done”!
It would take a special kind of stupid to risk a $1000+ drone trying to fly close enough to a window to peep inside. In the daytime this would be nearly impossible. Just go outside on a sunny day and try looking in your own windows. You can’t see anything unless you put your face up to the window. And at night you can’t see where you are flying. Hit a tree branch or power line in the dark and down it goes. And drone cameras don’t have zoom lenses so you’re not going to get much of a shot unless you’re up close.
Agreed, Jay, but unfortunately…and I’m sure you’re aware of this…there is PLENTY of the special kind of stupid that you referenced to be found among our fellow humans. I see examples of it virtually every day.
i dont give a shit!!/..use it but I will shut down your drone and destroy it!!..i dont give a damn why are you using it for or who you are. even a police or a military drone if around my house i will shot it down and destroy it!!..end of story!!!
Who does Number 2 work for?
For those calling BS, saying you can’t get good video or pics with a drone looking thru windows, I beg to differ:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjDdVQNFN0
Isn’t technology great? An advancement to mankind!
The bright flashing lights were covered by tape so as to not draw attention while flying at night. This guy was flying early in the morning so he could just watch for a light to come on and go to that light. I watch the local news. This guy is on the run. They know almost everything about him including his underwear size. He has been involved in voyeurism before. These things generally creep me out. We have way too many cameras watching our every move.
Dear Edward van dreal – self professed drone expert – that is NOT a DJI.
You’re welcome
Lazy cops not to just pick up the pervert.
The police seem to want to instigate and scare the public. Every technology has a ‘down’ side, and every technology can be abused.
If the police know who owns the drone, they should simply pick the owner up and arrest them if a crime has been committed.
Selling drones to the public is a bad idea. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this would be the result. Flying a drone onto someone else’s private property should be criminal, and should result in forfeiture of the drone.
How many other people is the pedo spying on with his backup drone while the cops play games and diddle themselves for their own cleverness?
on the 1st day of christmas my true love gave to me…. a drone naked drone pic of me..
on the 2d day of christmas my true love gave to me…..2 double A batteries and a naked drone pic of me
on the 3d….
Just another of the sexually repressed minions in Utah…..nothing new here.
I DEMAND TO SEE THE IMAGES THE DRONE TOOK! You know, just to make sure…..
…did i mention i was offended?
They sell drones that can take pictures through blinds and curtains? Oh, wait…..
Oh my!
I am surprised that the Orem PD could see the drone! None if them are over four feet tall!