(FRESNO BEE) A Bulldog gang member convicted of pointing a high-powered laser at a police helicopter was sentenced Monday to spend 14 years in federal prison, a term prosecutors believe to be among the region's longest for such a crime.
Sergio Patrick Rodriguez, 26, was accused of pointing a green laser 13 times more powerful than common pointers at a Fresno Police Department helicopter in 2012. The helicopter had been called to an apartment complex near Fresno Yosemite International Airport after the Children's Hospital Central California helicopter crew reported they had been targeted by a laser from the ground in the area.
A federal jury found Rodriguez guilty of attempting to interfere with safe operation of aircraft and aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft.
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