March 17, 2015 - Stephen Francis Bukucs, 41, of
Portland, was sentenced to six months
in federal prison yesterday by U.S. District
Judge Michael W. Mosman for two felony counts of
aiming a laser pointer at commercial jetliners
as they approached
Portland
International
Airport
for night landings in October 2013. Following
the prison term, Bukucs must serve three years
of supervised release.
On July 15, 2014, Bukucs pleaded guilty to
aiming his green laser device at United Airlines
Flight 1406 and Jet Blue Flight 1205 as they
flew over his apartment in
Northeast Portland on October 13,
2013.
The laser struck both aircraft and distracted
the pilots during their final descents to Portland. Bukucs confessed
to the FBI that, over several months, he had
targeted up to 25 aircraft and that he did so
for entertainment and as a “cat-and-mouse” game
with the police who pursued him.
His arrest occurred after intense air and ground
surveillance by FBI agents and police officers.
Investigators reported over 100 laser strikes
from the vicinity of defendant’s apartment in
2013, the government stated to the court.
Bukucs, a native of Portland,
worked for Delta Airlines in the
Portland
ground crew from 1997 to 2004. From 2007 until
his arrest, he worked for a private security
firm, providing armed security in
Portland
and
Vancouver, Washington.
Among his findings as part of the sentence,
Judge Mosman found that “the offense involved
recklessly endangering the safety of an
aircraft.” The government noted at sentencing
that aiming a laser at aircraft always
jeopardizes aircraft safety, since it may impair
pilots’ vision by causing glare or flash
blindness. The action can force pilots to divert
their eyes from their flight or landing path,
startle them, and reduce their ability to
observe obstacles.
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