Eastern District of California Blog

Turlock man indicted for hitting police helicopter with laser

A Turlock man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Fresno on Thursday on two counts of hitting two helicopters with the beam of a laser pointer in October. Both were flying near the Modesto Airport.

According to court documents, Roger Shane John, 31, on the evening of Oct. 22 struck a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department helicopter, Air 101, five to six times with a powerful green laser, causing visual interference and disrupting an air support response to a domestic violence call.

Modesto Bee, 12/15/17

Feds Charge Man For Shining Laser At Police Helicopter

When a Fresno, Calif. man allegedly shot a high-powered green laser at a police helicopter pilot in October, he successfully hit the pilot’s eyes and blinded him — at least momentarily, police said.

That was Michael Alvarez’ goal with the laser pointer, authorities said: He “thought it would be funny to point the laser at a helicopter” from the car he was driving with some passengers just after midnight on Oct. 22, according to new federal charging documents reported by Ars Technica.

Fresno Bee, 11/13/17

Guilty Verdict in Laser Pointing Case--And Ninth Circuit Reversal In Another

In United States v. Bowser, No. 1:15-CR-0088-LJO, a Fresno jury on Wednesday found a Bakersfield man guilty of one count of aiming the beam of a laser at a helicopter after a two-day trial before Judge Ishii.

In an unrelated laser strike appeal, United States v. Rodriguez, No. 14-10122, the Ninth Circuit last month reversed an EDCA conviction for attempting to interfere with the safe operation of an aircraft and the 14-year sentence.  The Court held there was insufficient evidence that the defendant was willfully attempting to interfere with an aircraft and exhibited a reckless disregard for human life where he was attempting to see how far his laser would go at night and aimed it at a helicopter, but there was no evidence that he was trying to interfere with the pilot.  The court remanded for resentencing on the defendant's other conviction for aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, which carries a maximum 5-year sentence.  Congratulations to defense attorney Carolyn Phillips who argued the case on appeal. 

The U.S. Attorney's press release on the Bower verdict says that the Federal Aviation Administration received 3,894 reports of incidents involving laser strikes on aircraft in 2014, 150 of which were in the Eastern District of California.  Seems like a real problem, but I wonder how many are knuckleheads who have no idea that they may be causing a real risk of harm to aircraft by aiming their laser pointers at planes in the sky.

Fresno Leads Country In Laser Strike Prosecutions

A lengthy online story in arstechnica.com focuses on laser strike prosecutions in Fresno and describes AUSA Karen Escobar as "the leading prosecutor in the nation for laser strike prosecutions." Here are some excerpts:

It may seem like a silly thing, but laser strikes against planes, helicopters, and other aerial vehicles have become an increasing epidemic nationwide. Since the FBI began keeping track in 2005, there have been more than 17,000 laser strikes in total—more than a fifth (3,960) in 2013 alone. During the first three months of 2014, the FBI reported an average of 9.5 documented incidents every single day.

* * *

Typically federal prosecutors, like Fresno's Karen Escobar, the local Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the Eastern District of California, would spend the bulk of their time bringing drug cases. Here, that's not necessarily the case.

“I prosecute primarily drug cases and have quite a few of those, but for some reason our district—34 counties, including Fresno [in Fresno County] and Bakersfield [in Kern County]—has the highest rate of laser strikes that are reported,” Escobar said.

There's no single reason for this uptick, but it has thrust Fresno into the national discussion around the trend. In March 2014, local law enforcement agencies—California Highway Patrol (CHP), the Fresno Police Department, and the Fresno County Sheriff's Department—had a "round table" laser strike symposium with the US Attorney's office and the FBI among others. And these local groups continue to keep regular contact with other federal authorities (like the Federal Aviation Administration) in Washington, DC.

* * *

Escobar said since that first case, “incidents just increased tremendously and I kept getting more and more referrals.” It's even attracted the attention of her superiors in Washington, DC.

“She’s probably the leading prosecutor in the nation for laser strikes,” Johnson, the FBI air marshal, told Ars. “She in particular takes this very serious and she has prepared training for other US Attorneys in the ways you should prosecute a laser case.”

Escobar's colleague, Michael Tierney, another AUSA in the Eastern District of California, attributed Fresno's push to litigate to her. As a former judge advocate general in the military, he says the increased prosecution of laser strikes is justified as well. "It's too high of a risk to take [to not prosecute]."

In one of Escobar's most recent cases (from April 2014), she brought fresh charges against three more alleged laser strike suspects in Bakersfield and Fresno.

* * *

Rodriguez and Coleman have both become two of eight laser strike convictions (with three more cases ongoing) from the Eastern District of California centered in Fresno County since 2007. Combined with an additional 20 state convictions from this same region, this federal district alone constitutes 35 percent of the only 80 total laser strike convictions nationwide—state and federal—since the FBI began keeping track a decade ago.