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A former convict is charged in a Lancaster County arrest warrant with using a drone to attempt to drop marijuana into the Lincoln Correctional Center yard.

Robert M. Kinser, 37, of Lincoln was arrested Thursday on suspicion of delivering a controlled substance, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

According to an affidavit filed by an investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol, an inmate on a work detail in February 2018 found a DJI Phantom 4 drone and two bags — one with just over half an ounce of marijuana and the other with tobacco and rolling papers — outside the prison at 3216 W. Van Dorn St.

Pedram Nabegh of the patrol said in the affidavit that an investigation determined that Kinser owned the drone and had operated it over the prison.

Nabegh said 13 photographs and six movie files extracted from the drone’s memory card helped to identify Kinser as the operator when it flew over the prison.

Kinser, who was convicted in 2001 of felony drug, assault and weapons charges, admitted to having owned the drone in an interview with Nabegh. But he claimed never to have flown the drone over the prison and said he had sold it within two weeks of buying it.