A federal judge has sentenced a 25-year-old South Texas man to two years in prison for aiming a laser pointer at a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter.
A U.S. attorney's statement says Jose Porfirio De Leon of Hidalgo was sentenced Thursday in McAllen for his January guilty plea to aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft.
He could have been sentenced to up to five years in federal prison and fined up to $250,000.
The DPS helicopter was flying the night of April 9, 2014, in support of the U.S. Border Patrol in finding and detaining those who had crossed into the United States illegally.
After being targeted by the laser, the aircrew used night vision to find the source of the light at his home near Hidalgo.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
