North Texas ranked high in US for drones seized at World Cup events

Prosecutors have filed what appear to be the first federal charges in the nation against someone accused to violating a no-fly zone around a World Cup stadium.

Just 23 minutes before the first FIFA World Cup match between the Netherlands and Japan last week, as tens of thousands of fans filed into Dallas Stadium, an FBI task force officer conducting drone countersurveillance was notified about an unmanned aircraft flying within the Temporary Flight Restriction airspace.

"That's the real serious threat, is you can launch it from a couple miles away and within a matter of seconds, you could be over a place where there's a lot of folks," United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould said.

Officials say the task force officer then located and made contact with Luis Mauricio Flores Ordonez. According to court documents, the Honduran national confirmed he was the operator of the drone, which authorities say had not been registered. Flores was taken into federal custody and charged with a felony count of owning an unregistered aircraft.

"In this situation, we charged willful violation of the law, which is a felony and so that means that we thought that there was evidence that demonstrated willfulness, like knowingly and willfully violating the law," Raybould said.

Raybould says the arrest was one of the first in the nation addressing drones flying over restricted airspace during World Cup events.

Despite declining to comment on specifics of the case,Raybould did say a number of factors go into a decision whether to charge a drone operator, including any previous criminal history, previous warnings and overall drone knowledge.

The FBI says more than 300 drones have been seized near or at FIFA World Cup venues since the tournament started on June 11th.So far in North Texas, FBI Dallas says 53 drones have been seized.

Raybould says his office has more active investigations into drone incursions and more charges are pending. He says the majority of drone seizures have been at Dallas Stadium with 34 and 19 drones have been seized from Fan Fest at Fair Park.

None of the drones were carrying bombs or any other dangerous materials. Still, Raybould and the FBI continue to warn North Texans of the consequences of flying drones over restricted airspace. Offenders face anywhere from one to three years behind bars as well as fines.

"When you're operating a drone, you're required to know the law just like when you're operating a car, you're required to know our rules on the road," Raybould said.

Raybould and the FBI remind drone operators to register and label drones, obtain a TRUST certification from the FAA, and familiarize themselves with airspace restrictions.

The World Cup is already proving to be an early indicator of the expanding turf of prosecuting drone incursions.

"I think this will continue to become kind of a tool that we use in our toolkit because drones are never going to go away," Raybould said.

NBC 5 reached out to Flores' public defender for a comment, but have yet to hear back.