Cathedral City Man Sentenced To Prison For Pointing Laser At Aircraft

A 19-year-old Cathedral City man who flashed a laser beam into the cockpit of a California Highway Patrol helicopter, disrupting a law enforcement operation, was sentenced today to 15 months in federal prison.

Nathan Ramon Wells was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips to spend three years on probation for the June 3, 2009, laser-pointing incident.

Wells, who is free on $60,000 bail, had also been charged with attempted interference of the authorized operation of an aircraft, but that count was dropped under the plea deal reached with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

On the night of June 3, 2009, a CHP air unit was called in to assist Cathedral City police responding to a burglary call in the 68-200 block of Satermo Road.

As the two CHP officers were orbiting in the helicopter about 700 feet above the ground, trying to spot the area where the burglary was reported, their cockpit was lit up by a “bright green light,” according to the plea agreement narrative.

The officers were momentarily blinded and forced to turn away, losing sight of the action below.

“Officers then used their NightSun light to light up the vehicle from which the laser beam had emanated,” according to the document.

The helicopter crew tracked the vehicle through the city, until the driver finally parked outside a residence. A Cathedral City police officer was directed to the location and encountered Wells holding a pen-shaped laser light, prosecutors said. He was arrested on the spot.

During an interview with FBI agents in January, “the defendant admitted that he pointed a green laser at the helicopter, which he knew was a police helicopter,” according to the plea agreement, which says “he acted with reckless disregard for the safety of human life.”