Chinese Man Pleads Guilty To Photographing Key West Navy Base

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - A Chinese national pleaded guilty to taking photographs of a U.S. Navy base in Key West.

The Miami Herald reports Lyuyou Liao, 27, appeared in U.S. District Court in Key West two months after he was arrested using a cellphone to take photos in a restricted area of the Naval Air Station known as the Truman Annex.

Liao was arrested and charged with entering Naval property for the purpose of photographing defense installations.

On Friday, Liao pleaded guilty to one count of photographing or sketching defense installations. He now faces up to one year in prison.

Liao's arrest on Dec. 26 is similar to the cases of three other Chinese nationals who were also caught taking photos at the Key West base.

Two Chinese nationals were arrested in early January after they were told by a security officer they could not enter the property without military identification but still drove onto the station to take pictures of structures.

Another Chinese man pleaded guilty last year to illegally taking photographs at the same Florida Keys installation. Zhao Qianli, 20, was sentenced to a year in federal prison.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)