Man Arrested for Dropping Chemical Into Swimming Pools Using Drone

"He was getting too happy with doing it."

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The general manager of a Quality Inn in Absecon, New Jersey, noticed a bizarre trend at her hotel: a mysterious blue substance had seemingly been airdropped into the hotel's pool, causing it to turn a radioactive shade of green.

As The New York Times reports, it wasn't a sudden algae bloom or bacterial infection. It was a 45-year-old man, who thought it was hilarious to use a drone to contaminate nearby pools with packets of Sea Dye, a chemical that colors the water to aid during water rescues.

It's a bizarre instance of a prank gone wrong — but as it turns out, it was general manager Sandra Woolstion, who had the last laugh.

Blue's Clues

Woolstion informed Jason Kiamos, a detective at the Galloway Township Police Department, of the situation (the pool turned green for the first time in June). Woolstion and her team had to drain the pool, clean it, and refill it several times over this summer.

It didn't take long for the police department to track down a drone flying between the Quality Inn and a nearby business. Patrick Spina, the owner of said business, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of criminal mischief and harassment, Kiamos told the NYT.

"Sandra, we made the arrest," he wrote Woolstion after taking Spina into custody.

And the arrest couldn't have come at a better time. Over the last week alone, Woolstion had to deal with a green pool on two consecutive days.

"He was getting too happy with doing it," she told the NYT.

For now, Woolstion is happy she doesn't have to refill the pool every time, something that has incurred her almost $20,000 in additional costs over the summer.

"It was just more than we bargained for," she added.

More on drones: The NYPD Says It's Going to Spy on Labor Day Parties Using Drones