According to sources, a man has stepped forward and admitted he was flying it for "recreational" purposes.

The FOX TV affiliate in Washington D.C. says authorities so far have no reason to doubt the man was telling the truth.    Anonymous sources say the man told authorities he was flying his drone nearby and didn't mean for it to fly so close to the White House. No details have been released except that early Monday, the UAV, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, crashed on the lawn near the building.

Witnesses and friends of the man are being questioned to corroborate his story. Officials didn't say what kind of drone it was, but it's presumed it was a small multi-rotor powered model similar to many other recreational type of drones. Authorities didn't say if it was equipped with any cameras.

They also didn't say what the circumstances were that caused the unit to crash.

The investigation is ongoing, and the anonymous source would not release any more details to the television station.

This is the latest incident involving a drone that has triggered controversy.   In the last year, dozens of reports have been received across the country by authorities about such units being spotted hovering over people's yards, "peering" into windows, and even narrowly missing commercial airliners near congested airports.

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