TOLEDO — A Toledo man was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for aiming a laser pointer at an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter flying over a Toledo neighborhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced.

Branden Jay Lounsbury, 42, of Toledo, aimed a laser pointer multiple times at the helicopter as it flew over a residential neighborhood in Toledo on June 2, 2025, according to court documents. The pilots were able to identify his location.

File photo: A police helicopter. (Benjah-bmm27, public domain via Wikimedia Commons) This is an illustrative file photo only. It does not show the Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter involved in this incident.

Lounsbury pleaded guilty in June to aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft or its flight path. In addition to the 15-month prison sentence, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

The conditions of his supervised release include behavioral treatment, substance-abuse testing or treatment, and adult education, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Toledo Resident Agency, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Toledo Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Ballard Tangeman.

Prosecutors said pointing a laser at an aircraft can temporarily blind or distract pilots, potentially causing a crash or permanent eye injury. A laser beam aimed at a cockpit can interfere with a pilot’s vision at a critical moment, even when the aircraft is flying over a residential area and the pilot is trying to maintain control and observe the ground below.

Aiming a laser at an aircraft or its flight path is a federal crime. Ohio law also prohibits knowingly shining a laser or other device that creates visible light into the cockpit of an aircraft while it is taking off, landing or in flight. Under Ohio law, violating that prohibition is a second-degree felony under Ohio Revised Code Section 2909.081.

The sentence comes as federal officials have warned about the growing number of laser incidents involving aircraft. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, laser incidents involving aircraft increased tenfold from 2014 to 2023.

That increase has drawn attention from law enforcement agencies across the country, including in Ohio, where state and federal investigators have pursued cases involving lasers aimed at aircraft in flight. Officials have said the incidents pose a risk not only to pilots and others aboard the aircraft, but also to people on the ground if a distracted or temporarily blinded pilot loses control.

In Lounsbury’s case, prosecutors said the helicopter was flying over a residential neighborhood in Toledo when the laser was aimed at it multiple times on June 2, 2025. The pilots were able to identify where the laser was coming from, and investigators later identified Lounsbury as the person responsible.

He pleaded guilty in June, resolving the federal charge against him without a trial. The 15-month sentence and three years of supervised release followed that guilty plea.

During supervised release, Lounsbury will be required to comply with the conditions imposed by the court, including behavioral treatment, substance-abuse testing or treatment, and adult education. Supervised release follows a federal prison sentence and allows the court to set conditions intended to support a person’s return to the community while monitoring compliance.

The investigation brought together federal and local law enforcement. The FBI’s Toledo Resident Agency, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Toledo Police Department investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Ballard Tangeman prosecuted it for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

Source: Akron Beacon Journal