Federal grand jury indicts man who admitting aiming laser pointer at Dallas police helicopter | Dallas Morning News
February 21, 2013 01:05 PM CST
Federal grand jury indicts man who admitting aiming laser pointer at Dallas police helicopter
Federal grand jury indicts man who admitting aiming laser pointer at Dallas police helicopter ROBERT WILONSKY
Published: 21 February 2013 01:05 PM
Updated: 21 February 2013 01:05 PM
12:58 p.m.Kenneth Santodomingo has been in federal custody ever since January 29, after he admitted to shining a laser-pointer’s bright green beam into a Dallas police helicopter one day earlier “to see how far it would go.” Yesterday, a Dallas federal grand jury formally indicted him with a single count of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft.This was not unexpected: As our Kevin Krause noted late last month, the 22-year-old who also goes by the moniker Juan Joel Pagan was expected to become the first North Texan prosecuted under a new law President Barack Obama signed on February 14, 2012.
The law says it’s a federal offense for a person to “knowingly aim the
beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft in the special aircraft
jurisdiction of the United States.” The crime is punishable by up to
five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.The criminal complaint filed in federal court on January 29 repeats
much of what Dallas police said one day earlier, when Santodomingo was
arrested by Dallas officers for shining a light into the cockpit of
DPD’s Air One, which, at the time Dallas police, was flying over a
southeast Dallas neighborhood looking for car-burglary suspects. As the
chopper was passing over the 7700 block of Lake June Road, between S. Buckner Boulevard and N. Jim Miller Road, Santodomingo repeatedly aimed his high-powered laser light at the chopper.“The intensity of the light obscured the vision of the pilot and
impaired the pilot’s ability to control the aircraft,” said the federal
affidavit.It didn’t take long for the pilot to tell officers on the ground
where they light had come from. When they got there, said Dallas police,
Santodomingo wearing only “dark blue short style underwear.” And at
first he denied knowing what they were talking about. But eventually,
says the federal affidavit, “Santodomingo admitted to pointing the green
laser light at the helicopter … to see how far it would go.” Officers
finally found the pointer in the front pocket of a suitcase.
Police looking for 26-year-old man accused of beating his wife, fatally shooting her son Friday
Federal grand jury indicts man who admitting aiming laser pointer at Dallas police helicopter | Dallas Morning News
February 21, 2013 01:05 PM CST
Federal grand jury indicts man who admitting aiming laser pointer at Dallas police helicopter
Federal grand jury indicts man who admitting aiming laser pointer at Dallas police helicopter ROBERT WILONSKY
Published: 21 February 2013 01:05 PM
Updated: 21 February 2013 01:05 PM
12:58 p.m.Kenneth Santodomingo has been in federal custody ever since January 29, after he admitted to shining a laser-pointer’s bright green beam into a Dallas police helicopter one day earlier “to see how far it would go.” Yesterday, a Dallas federal grand jury formally indicted him with a single count of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft.This was not unexpected: As our Kevin Krause noted late last month, the 22-year-old who also goes by the moniker Juan Joel Pagan was expected to become the first North Texan prosecuted under a new law President Barack Obama signed on February 14, 2012.
The law says it’s a federal offense for a person to “knowingly aim the
beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft in the special aircraft
jurisdiction of the United States.” The crime is punishable by up to
five years in federal prison and a $25
0,000 fine.The criminal complaint filed in federal court on January 29 repeats
much of what Dallas police said one day earlier, when Santodomingo was
arrested by Dallas officers for shining a light into the cockpit of
DPD’s Air One, which, at the time Dallas police, was flying over a
southeast Dallas neighborhood looking for car-burglary suspects. As the
chopper was passing over the 7700 block of Lake June Road, between S. Buckner Boulevard and N. Jim Miller Road, Santodomingo repeatedly aimed his high-powered laser light at the chopper.“The intensity of the light obscured the vision of the pilot and
impaired the pilot’s ability to control the aircraft,” said the federal
affidavit.It didn’t take long for the pilot to tell officers on the ground
where they light had come from. When they got there, said Dallas police,
Santodomingo wearing only “dark blue short style underwear.” And at
first he denied knowing what they were talking about. But eventually,
says the federal affidavit, “Santodomingo admitted to pointing the green
laser light at the helicopter … to see how far it would go.” Officers
finally found the pointer in the front pocket of a suitcase.
Police looking for 26-year-old man accused of beating his wife, fatally shooting her son Friday