70-year-old grandfather arrested for daring base jumps off Virginia buildings
A 70-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly leaping from tall buildings with a parachute in Northern Virginia.
Two years ago, Chuck Moeser was suspected of doing six base jumps off the state's tallest buildings, including the 850ft Lumen building, but the statute of limitations for trespassing expired before the police could build a case.
Now the Fairfax County police have arrested the grandfather for three counts of misdemeanour trespassing, for further jumps that took place in 2020 and 2021, including one on the Capitol One Campus.
The activity of base-jumping is illegal in all US national parks and almost every American city, however, it is not illegal in Virginia – but trespassing is.
Mr Moeser has denied the allegations against him, calling them "ridiculous."
“I don’t get how you can get arrested for something when no one had told me I had trespassed,” Moeser said to The Washington Post. “I don’t think they have any proof I did anything like that.”
A video has emerged of someone base jumping off of what appeared to be the 367ft Tysons Corner building.
"Somebody else sent videos in and said, ‘Yeah, we think that’s Chuck Moeser.’ Well, nobody ever saw my face base jumping or had fingerprints," Mr Moeser told Fox5.
"If you’re jumping in the city, don’t do it unless you're very experienced because it’s the landing that’s going to kill you," Mr Moeser says.
Mr Moeser is a keen runner and former military member with the Army 101st Airborne Division, specialising in air assault operations. He will appear in court on 15 February.
