Two Dutch YouTubers plead guilty to trespassing on Area 51

Two Dutch tourists who wanted to take video of Area 51 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespass and illegal parking following their arrests at a different secure U.S. government site in Nevada.

A judge on Monday sentenced Govert Sweep and Ties (TEES’) Granzier to three days in the Nye County jail and fined them $2,280 apiece.

They also surrendered computer and camera equipment and an aerial drone.

A judge on Monday sentenced Govert Sweep (left) and Ties Granzier (right) to three days in the Nye County jail and fined them $2,280 apiece

In a Nye County sheriff’s office video news release, Sweep and Granzier say they’ll return to the Netherlands after their expected release Thursday.

They were arrested September 10 in a car inside the Nevada National Security Site near Mercury.

That’s more than 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) from Area 51, the focus of events this weekend inspired by a hoax Facebook post inviting people to “see them aliens.”

A couple of YouTubers were arrested for trespassing on to Area 51 with cameras and a drone just days before thousands of Facebook users claimed they were going to descend on the secure government facility to ‘see them aliens.’

Known on YouTube as Govert Sweep, who has more than 700,000 followers

Ties has more than 300,000 followers on YouTube

In a Nye County sheriff’s office video news release, Sweep and Granzier say they’ll return to the Netherlands after their expected release Thursday

Govert Charles Wilhelmus Jacob Sweep, 21, and Ties Granzier, 20, who are from the Netherlands, were arrested on Wednesday and kept overnight at the Nye County Detention Center, authorities said.

DailyMail.com has learned that both were released on Thursday after each posted $500 bail. 

‘The conditions of their bail did not include any provisions that they remain in the United States,’ a sheriff’s office spokesman says in a video press release about the YouTubers’ release. 

Known on YouTube as Govert Sweep, who has more than 700,000 followers, and Ties, with more than 300,000, the duo were caught three miles into the Nevada dessert base, suspected by UFO watchers that it contains the remains of alien visitors and their spacecraft.

YouTuber Govert Charles Wilhelmus Jacob Sweep (pictured)

Ties Granzier (pictured)

YouTubers Govert Charles Wilhelmus Jacob Sweep, 21, (left)  and Ties Granzier, 20, (right) were arrested for trespassing on Area 51 days before an event attracting 2 million Facebook followers was scheduled to bring UFO watchers out to the mysterious base

 

Authorities responding to the Storm Area 51 event, even though it was called a joke post on Facebook, said that no one would be allowed to enter the base, which is clearly marked by 'no trespassing' signs. Sweep and Granzier admitted they had seen the warnings, authorities said

Authorities responding to the Storm Area 51 event, even though it was called a joke post on Facebook, said that no one would be allowed to enter the base, which is clearly marked by ‘no trespassing’ signs. Sweep and Granzier admitted they had seen the warnings, authorities said

Authorities found a camera and drone inside their vehicle, according to the Nye County Sheriff’s office. 

Sweep speculated in a jailhouse interview with KTNV that he had not been released sooner ‘If I wasn’t a YouTuber…’  

Sweep and Granzier were detained less than two weeks before a ‘Storm Area 51’ event, which attracted two million Facebook followers and was expected to possibly bring tens of thousands out to the the mysterious, remote military base. 

Organizers cancelled the event this week over fears of a humanitarian disaster.  

Authorities had responded to the event, even though it was called a joke post on Facebook, said that no one would be allowed to enter the base, which is clearly marked by ‘no trespassing’ signs. 

Sweep and Granzier admitted they had seen the warnings, authorities said. 

Sweep (above) speculated in a jailhouse interview with KTNV that he had not been released sooner 'If I wasn't a YouTuber...'

Sweep (above) speculated in a jailhouse interview with KTNV that he had not been released sooner ‘If I wasn’t a YouTuber…’

Sweep told KTNV that he was given directions by a gas station attendant at the Area 51 Alien Center, a tourist attraction near the site, to where he could get a good view of Area 51. He claimed also that he had no intention of crossing on to the base, which the US Air Force has warned trespassers to stay away from.

‘We didn’t have any intention to storm it because we leave one day before the actual storming dates, and we just wanted to go there,’ Sweep said. 

The potential for others security breaches and massive crowds impacting the remote desert area prompted Nye and neighboring Lincoln counties to issue emergency orders in anticipation of mayhem. 

Emergency management officials are advising would-be visitors not to come.

Disaster preparation and sheriff officials have told local lawmakers they’re unsure how many – or where – people might show up for events. Concerns range from not enough lodging in the area to a shortage of portable toilets.

Local officials are taking the possibility of a large crowd seriously, worrying tens of thousands will show up on Sept. 20, a Friday, when the event is scheduled, and stay for the whole weekend. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk