Lubbock man indicted in laser shining at aircraft

DALLAS, TX -- A 23-year-old former suburban Dallas man has been indicted on a federal count of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft in the laser shining on a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter.

A U.S. attorney's statement says FBI agents arrested Steven Alexander Chavez on Friday in Lubbock, to where he had moved recently from Garland.

According to the indictment returned earlier this week in Dallas, Chavez knowingly aimed the laser pointer at a DPS helicopter on Aug. 24, 2013.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined up to $250,000.

Federal records list no attorney for Chavez, whose personal telephone number is not listed.