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A BUSINESS owner has been arrested after allegedly using a drone to repeatedly drop dye in his neighbors’ swimming pools.
Patrick Spina IV, 45, is accused of terrorizing local pools for months, using sea dye to turn their waters a vile neon green.
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Spina was arrested Monday in Absecon, New Jersey after the drone in question was traced to his office.
Sandra Woolstion, operator and general manager of the Quality Inn in Galloway, first noticed the hotel’s outdoor pool had changed color in June.
“I saw it totally green and I was like, ‘Oh wow what is going on?’ So we saw a dye pack in the bottom of the pool and we didn’t know what it was,” She told local ABC affiliate WPVI-TV.
She had the pool drained and cleaned in order to get rid of the dye, but claims the issue continued through summer, leaving guests at the hotel sobbing.
“The girls are standing here like, ‘Oh my God we want to go swim. Some of them were crying,” the hotel worker explained.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?!’ I myself cried. I went into my office and I had a meltdown.”
Woolstion said the clean up cost the hotel thousands of dollars within a few months.
And The Quality Inn was not the only victim.
In Absecon, police were notified that a homeowner witnessed the dye being dropped in their pool too.
“We had a resident who was enjoying time in his pool and saw a drone over top and the drone actually dropped something in his pool and it turned green immediately,” said Absecon Police Chief James Laughlin.
An investigation by Absecon Police found that several other pools in Absecon and Galloway were hit with the same dye – and that the pranks were being done via drone.
Officers spotted the offending drone flying on September.
Working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), officials tracked it to Spina’s office.
Spina was booked on multiple counts of criminal mischief but was released from prison on a summons pending court proceedings.
According to the FAA, The HVAC entrepreneur could face $30,000 in fines as well as have his drone certification suspended or revoked.
“FAA regulations prohibit the unsafe or unauthorized operation of any aircraft,” the agency said in a statement.
“We encourage the public to report unauthorized drone operations to local law enforcement to help discourage this dangerous illegal activity.”
Officials are asking anyone in the Absecon and Galloway areas to contact the police if they believe they were a victim of the sea dye prank.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Patrick Spina IV for comment.
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