Investigations

On March 25, 2021, a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia indicted James Russell Weeks, III, for operating an unregistered UAS. The investigation revealed that on July 25, 2019, a UAS approached firefighters outside the Salem Fire Department and started harassing them. The firefighters went inside the fire station but the UAS followed them. The UAS eventually crashed inside the fire station and was seized by the Salem Police Department. Later that day, Weeks went to the police station and identified himself as the UAS’s owner.

 

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the Salem Police Department.

 

Note: Indictments, informations, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the Government. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.