A San Diego man pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges related to twice landing his small private plane on San Clemente Island, a mostly barren strip of land about 70 miles west of San Diego that’s controlled by the U.S. Navy and under the command of Naval Base Coronado.
Andrew Kyle White, 37, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to a felony count of theft of government property and a misdemeanor count of illegal entry into a naval installation. As part of his plea, he agreed to give up and not renew his pilot’s license.
White admitted that he landed his single-engine plane on an airstrip on the island without the Navy’s permission for the first time in October 2023. Despite signing a letter that warned him against landing on the island again and acknowledging that he could be charged with a federal crime if he did so, he landed on the island a second time in April, according to his plea agreement.
San Clemente Island has an airfield, a bombing range and a training facility used by special operations units. According to the Navy, there are typically between 80 and 100 people on the island.
After the second landing, White abandoned his plane, drove off in a Navy pickup truck, broke through at least one locked gate and spent a night on the island, prompting Naval Base Coronado’s commanding officer to place all personnel on the island on lockdown while security officers searched for him, according to his plea agreement and other court records.
“Mr. White’s unauthorized landing on San Clemente Island put Naval Base Coronado active duty and civil service members at risk while negatively impacting military readiness and costing the (Department of Defense) nearly 500 man-hours and (about) $500,000,” Capt. Loren Jacobi, Naval Base Coronado’s commanding officer, wrote in a victim impact statement to the court.
White’s attorneys said their client acknowledged his wrongdoing, but that it was clear he did not go to the island “with nefarious intentions of terrorizing the base or destroying sensitive equipment.”
In a sentencing memorandum, White’s attorneys described him as a lifelong San Diegan and “an intelligent young man who is passionate about everything having to do with the coastal and offshore fisheries he has grown up loving.”
Attorneys Domenic Lombardo and Trip Johnston wrote that White has designed and built “custom fishing equipment for the commercial fishing industry,” including harpoons and communications systems. They said his same curiosity and passion that led him to try to innovate solutions from the docks and his workshop also led him to begin flying and become an aerial fish-spotter.
“One of Mr. White’s favorite places to fly was around the rich fishing grounds that surrounded San Clemente Island,” the attorneys wrote. “In October 2023, Mr. White’s curiosity got the most of him, and he landed his plane on a small airstrip on the island.”
The defense attorneys did not explain for what specific purposes White landed on the island, or why he returned again in April. They wrote that when he was apprehended after spending the night on a beach, he told authorities “that he had come to the island to ‘get away from the noise.’ He also apologized about taking the truck, saying ‘Sorry about the vehicle.’”
Prosecutors and Naval Base Coronado’s commanding officer recounted a much more harrowing ordeal following White’s second landing on the evening of April 6.
“When defendant landed his plane … Captain Jacobi had no choice but to order a total lockdown,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “He had only five security personnel available to protect the approximately 80 people who were located on the island and did not know the nature of the threat or the level of hostility he faced. When his personnel found an abandoned plane on the island, he had very little information with which to evaluate the threat the Navy was facing; he had no idea who the intruder was, how many intruders there were, whether the intruders were armed, or what their intentions were. He had to assume the worst.”
Because of a thick marine layer, Navy personnel from the mainland were unable to arrive on the island until the next morning. Jacobi told the court that two security personnel had to stay with the plane overnight while three others searched in the darkness.
“Our personnel were dangerously exposed and ill-prepared to spend a full night on patrol,” Jacobi wrote. “Night tactical movements are always risky, especially for junior security personnel responding to unplanned events. Additionally, the overland search exposed my personnel to multiple historic bombing ranges that have not been swept for unexploded ordnance.”
White, who has been in pretrial custody for about four months, is expected to be sentenced later this month. Prosecutors said they would recommend a six-month sentence — that’s expected to be the high-end of his guideline range — while White’s attorneys wrote that they plan to seek his release with credit for time served. Prosecutors will also seek an order that White pay the Navy $8,077 in restitution for the broken gate.