2 plead guilty to illegally flying drones over Reds, Bengals games

Two men have pleaded guilty to illegally flying drones over Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds games. They can now face up to one year in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $100,000 fine.

It is illegal to fly drones over stadiums that are designated as temporary flight restriction (TFR) zones during sporting events. The two defendants — Travis Lenhoff and Dailon Dabney — were indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2022 for separate incidents involving Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds events.

While Lenhoff, 38, flew his drone to film the Opening Day of the Cincinnati Reds’ 2022 season, 24-year-old Dabney brought his aircraft to an NFL playoff game in January 2022. Dabney not only hovered the drone over the players and portions of the stadium crowd, but he also posted the flight video to social media sites and YouTube.

In addition to committing the misdemeanor crime of violating a TFR, both Dabney and Lenhoff did not register…