Man accused of pointing lasers at planes
Texas man, angry with planes flying low over his home during landing and take off in near-by airport, tries to disrupt flights by shining banned laser beams at pilots
A 47-year-old man from Clint, Texas, is facing federal charges linked to his attempts to disable commercial aircrafts by shining a laser at planes flying over his home. Clinton Udet Pinckert was arrested at his home last Tuesday night by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. He is charged with attempting to disable commerical aircrafts. If convicted, Pinckert faces up to twenty years in prison. According to a federal criminal complaint filed last week, Pinckert shined a Class IIIb laser product at a plane flying over his house. Pinckert is expected to have his initial appearance today before United States Magistrate Judge Norbert Garney. Pinckert is being held at the El Paso County Jail without bond.
“We take this matter very seriously,” FBI special agent in charge Manuel Mora said. “The safety of hundreds of people were at stake had the laser disoriented the pilots.” The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, El Paso Police Department, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Federal Air Marshal also assisted in this investigation.
