Medford Medford Man Lands in Prison for Pointing Laser at Chopper

A Medford man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for shining a powerful green laser beam into a state police helicopter escorting a liquefied natural gas tanker through Boston Harbor.

The U.S. District Attorney’s office in Boston says 52-year-old Gerard Sasso of Medford is the second person in the nation, and the first in Massachusetts, to be convicted of pointing a laser beam on an aircraft.

Prosecutors say Sasso pointed the laser to the helicopter several times at night in December 2007, flooding the cockpit with an intense green light despite the pilots’ attempts to avoid the laser. Pilots directed local police to the light source, but the suspect initially lied to investigators.

According to information released by the US Justice Department, the pilots viewed the laser beam as a potential threat to themselves, to the LNG tanker, and to planes landing at nearby Logan Airport. The pilots began to fly toward the beam to track down the source and as they flew closer the beam continued to follow them and struck the helicopter at least four more times. The pilots were eventually able to determine that the beam was likely coming from a window in Sasso’s third-floor apartment, which is on the Medford/Somerville line.

Sasso was sentenced Monday on charges including willfully interfering with an aircraft operator with reckless disregard for human life. His attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.

– Story originally ran in Medford Daily Mercury and edited by InsideMedford.com