Cranston Woman Foils Drone Voyeurism, Police Arrests Offender

Late in the evening of June 21, a Rhode Island woman's quiet night turned unsettling. After arriving home from work around 11 p.m., she intended to enjoy a relaxing shower, only to be interrupted by a strange ‘buzzing' emanating from outside her bathroom window, as reported by Cranston Police Department. Initially, she assumed it to be a sound from her backyard pool, but upon investigating, she discovered something far more troubling.

“In the backyard, she noticed a drone hovering outside her bathroom window,” Cranston police shared in a News release dated June 23. As she approached, the drone hastily attempted to retreat, striking a tree branch and crashing to the ground. She seized this opportunity to grab the drone, submerging it in her pool to disable it, before reaching out to the local law enforcement.

Fast forward two days, and Cranston police had reportedly tracked the rogue drone back to its operator. Identified as Christopher Jones, a convicted sex offender, he was apprehended on charges of video voyeurism—a felony offense in Rhode Island. The law stipulates that an individual is guilty of this crime when they use an imaging device to look into an occupied dwelling for sexual arousal, gratification, or stimulation.

While Jones had a previous conviction as a sex offender, his obligation to register had ended in 2015, police clarified. This incident has cast a chilling reminder about personal privacy and the dark side of technology misuse, serving as a wake-up call for the residents of Cranston and the greater Providence metropolitan area.