YouTuber Ties Granzier Arrested For Trespassing After Being Found Near Area 51

A YouTuber and his friend have been arrested for trespassing after being caught around 10 miles from Area 51.

Ties Granzier, 20, and Govert Charles Wilhelmus Jacob Sweep, 21, were found around three miles inside the Nevada National Security Site, according to Nye County Sheriff's Office.

Officers said the Dutchmen understood the 'no trespassing' signs they passed and found a number of recording devices in their vehicle.

In a statement, police said: "On 10 September, 2019, the Nye County Sheriff's Office responded to the Nevada National Security Site for a report of foreign national trespassers.

"Deputies found a car parked near a gate approximately three miles into Nevada National Security Site property.

"The occupants of the vehicle were identified as Govert Charles Wilhelmus Jacob Sweep and Ties Granzier, both of the Netherlands. Both individuals told deputies that they speak, write and read English. They said that they saw the 'no trespassing' signs at the Mercury Highway entrance to the Nevada National Security Site but they wanted to look at the facility."

The statement continued: "Granzier advised deputies that he is a YouTuber and deputies observed several cameras, a phone, a laptop and a drone inside of their vehicle. Both individuals consented to a search of their cameras and deputies observed video footage taken on Nevada National Security Site property.

"Both Sweep and Granzier were arrested. They were booked into the Nye County Detention Centre and charged with trespassing."

Granzier has more than 735,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he goes by the name 'TIES', and on Tuesday he indicated that he was headed to Area 51 in a post on Instagram.

However, Sweep - who is also a YouTuber - said the pair had no intention of storming the secure site.

Speaking to KTNV, he said: "We didn't have any intention to storm it because we leave one day before the actual storming dates, and we just wanted to make... to go there."

Police are braced for more trespassing over the coming weeks after a Facebook event called 'Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All Of Us' went viral, with millions of people expressing an interest in attending.

The event was originally organised for 20 September as a joke, but has been removed from Facebook.

Topics: US News, crime, YouTube

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey