Man faces prison sentence for aiming laser at Memphis planes

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Mississippi man has pleaded guilty to pointing a green laser at FedEx airplanes flying into Memphis International Airport in Tennessee.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis says Eugene Conrad faces a sentence of up to five years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to aiming a laser pointer at aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration told the FBI in July that airplanes flying into the airport were being hit in the cockpit by a green laser coming from Hardeman County, Tennessee, and Benton County, Mississippi.

Officials reported 49 strikes, mainly on FedEx airplanes, from January to July.

Conrad is from Michigan City, Mississippi.

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