A San Diego man pleaded guilty Monday in Los Angeles to twice landing a small airplane without permission on a Navy airstrip on San Clemente Island, then stealing a Navy truck and using it to damage gates on the island, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Andrew Kyle White, 37, pleaded guilty in federal court to one felony count of theft of government property in excess of $1,000 and one misdemeanor count of illegal entry into a naval installation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
White has been in federal custody since he cut off an ankle monitoring bracelet earlier this year, prosecutors said.
San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the Channel Islands and is in Los Angeles County. It is owned and operated by the Navy and is part of Naval Base Coronado. According to White's plea agreement, the defendant knew it was illegal to access San Clemente Island without prior government approval.
According to prosecutors, White flew a Glastar airplane to San Clemente Island on Oct. 29, 2023, and landed on a Navy airstrip without permission. He was given a letter — which he signed — notifying him that it was a federal crime to travel to San Clemente Island without government permission.
Despite that warning, in April of this year, White landed the Glastar airplane on the island again. While there, he stole a Navy-owned white Ford F- 150 truck worth nearly $16,000, according to White's plea agreement.
Prosecutors said White admitted driving the pilfered truck to various locations on the island, including some that were blocked by locked gates, which he rammed with the truck, causing more than $8,000 in damages and costs to tow the truck.
Navy officials estimated that White's intrusion onto the base cost nearly 500 man-hours and resulted in a $500,000 loss to taxpayers.
"Whatever (White's) intentions were, the military did not know them; they responded as one might expect the military to respond to an unknown threat: they assumed the worst," federal prosecutors argued in documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.
"The island went on a complete lockdown. Personnel engaged in a highly dangerous mission to locate the unknown intruder notwithstanding the dangers they were exposing themselves too, from the weather, the terrain, and the potential unexploded ordnances that could have been underfoot in that area."
U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II scheduled a Sept. 29 sentencing hearing, at which time White will face a possible penalty of up to 10 1/2 years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.
