Two men were arrested in Boston over the weekend for flying a drone “dangerously close” to Logan International Airport as investigations into objects in the sky continue across the East Coast.
Robert Duffy, 42, of Charlestown, and Jeremy Folcik, 32, of Bridgewater, were arrested Saturday evening, taken into custody on Long Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands, “following a hazardous drone operation near Logan Airport’s airspace,” Boston police said.
Both were charged with trespassing. Authorities said that a Boston police officer specializing in crime surveillance detected an unmanned aircraft system operating near the airport and identified the drone’s location.
When police responded, three suspects fled on foot and Duffy and Folcik were apprehended, with a drone found in Duffy’s backpack, police said. A search was ongoing for the third suspect. It’s unclear if the suspects have retained attorneys.
Boston police warned that even small drones pose “significant” risks, including “the potential for catastrophic damage to airplanes and helicopters. Near-collisions can cause pilots to veer off course, putting lives and property at risk.”
The arrests come as drone sightings have been reported across the country, in some instances prompting airport closings, leading lawmakers and the FAA to call for more oversight.
Drone activity led to the closure of critical Air Force base airspace over the weekend.
In Ohio, the Wright Patterson Air Force Base shut down for four hours after drones were spotted flying over and near the campus on Friday. The shutdown ended early Saturday, NBC affiliate WDTN of Dayton reported. The drones were described small and unmanned and did not disrupt operations on the base, a spokesperson for the 88th Air Base Wing said.
Meanwhile in the Northeast, runways at New York Stewart International Airport in Orange County were closed Friday night for about an hour because of drone activity in the airspace, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
She called for federal assistance and said that federal partners were sending a drone detection system. But she and other lawmakers say more needs to be done in regulating drone use.
“I am grateful for the support, but we need more. Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with the drones,” she said on X Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday requested that the Department of Homeland Security send a drone detection system to New York and New Jersey, after a number of drone sightings in the Northeast.
Schumer told reporters that it’s “remarkable” that despite the volume of sightings, “we have more questions than answers.”
He, too, pushed for legislation to give state and local law enforcement agencies the right to use software to detect unmanned aerial devices.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on X that he had met with New Jersey State Police and radar technicians who are “surveying the area for unmanned aircraft systems” on Sunday evening
“The public deserves clear answers — we will keep pushing the federal government for more information and resources,” he said.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are investigating the sightings. In a statement Thursday the agencies said there’s no evidence that the sightings pose a “national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Sunday acknowledged the recent drone sightings, saying that in some cases managed aircraft were commonly mistake for drones.
“There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States, recreational drones, commercial drones. That is the reality. And in September of 2023 the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night, and that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk. And so that is the reality, but I want to assure the American public that we are on it,” Mayorkas said.
“We know of no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast. And we are vigilant in investigating this matter,” he added.