The Antelope Valley Times

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Lancaster man accused of pointing laser at commercial aircraft, LEAPS

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The city of Lancaster employs a Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System (LEAPS), a plane used to assist field deputies when coordinating calls for service and responding to emergencies. LEAPS was lit up by a laser Thursday as it searched the ground looking for the suspect’s location, sheriff’s official said. [Photo of LEAP courtesy LASD]
The city of Lancaster employs a Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System (LEAPS) to assist field deputies when responding to emergencies. The LEAPS plane was lit up by a laser Thursday as it searched the ground looking for the suspect’s location, sheriff’s official said. [Photo of LEAPS courtesy LASD]
LANCASTER – A 27-year-old man is in sheriff’s custody, accused of pointing a laser at a commercial aircraft flying over Lancaster and again at a local law enforcement plane sent to investigate.

Cory Lien of Lancaster was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of discharging a laser at an aircraft, according to Deputy Joshua Stamsek of the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.

The arrest came after “an unidentified commercial airline pilot reported the cockpit of his airplane had been illuminated with what appeared to be a ‘high powered green laser pointer,’” Stamsek said. “The plane had been flying over the city of Lancaster at the time of the incident.”

A law enforcement plane – Lancaster’s Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System (LEAPS) –was deployed to investigate, Stamsek said.

LEAPS also was lit up by the laser, according to Stamsek, but the pilot was nonetheless able to direct deputies to the suspect’s location in the 42000 block of 30th Street West.

Deputies located Lien, who “implicated himself in the crime,” Stamsek said, adding that a laser pointer was recovered from Lien’s home.

Lien is being held on $25,000 bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles, according to sheriff’s online inmate records.

The Sheriff’s Aero Bureau has had 36 documented incidents of lasers being pointed at aircraft since 2010, and 25 have led to arrests, Stamsek said.

Lasers pointed into airplane cockpits can temporarily blind a pilot and even cause permanent eye damage, he said.

 

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75 comments for "Lancaster man accused of pointing laser at commercial aircraft, LEAPS"

  2. How long does Is LEAPS footage kept? I’m curious because one afternoon my ex attempted to run me over with a car as LEAPS aircraft flew right over and when the ex saw the scratch on her car that was due to me having to push myself away to safety, she called 911, and I ended up convicted because I was held in custody until I plead no contest in order to prevent from getting dropped from my college classes losing work, etc..now the jobs that I had been on lists for after 4 years off schooling to prepare for, want nothing to do with me because I have been convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence even though LEAPS had to have seen the entire incident in which my ex should be the one with a criminal record now, NOT me!
    How can I get LEAPS footage viewed and clear my name?
    (I doubt they even care now cuz I must pay nearly $2000 to courts, etc…)

  3. Did Lancaster help out the Kern County Police in their recent manhunt? Leaps would have been perfect!

    • No one here’s saying that Car Wreck is NOT a slimeball; far from it. But, in my experience as a private citizen, LEAPS has worked and costs less than LASD’s airship coverage. Could it work BETTER for $90K/mo? I think so…but that it works at all and was a deal piloted by Car Wreck is, in itself, a miracle. Of course, that doesn’t make up for that “slopping center” located on Visco’s land near the old Antelope Valley Bus Lines barn RIGHT OVER Amargosa Creek that he robbed everyone to cover over…and various and sundry other malfeasances. As I said earlier, this area has been trashed, and will not recover. People get the kind of government they deserve, and Lancaster is perfect proof of that. With NOAA predicting a whopper of an El Niño coming in the next few months, it could very well turn out that Visco’s (and Car Wreck’s) slop eaten from the public trough could very well end up somewhere around Rosamond.

      • LASD’s air coverage is part of the contract. LEAPS IS A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY. Has it dawned on anyone that no other law enforcement agency or municipality has bought into it? It is laughed at. The latest “hype” of LEAPS being used in an emergency must have brought laughter to the emergency crews who for years have been using aerial resources. Face it—LEAPS is nothing more than a political payback on the backs of the taxpayer. Nothing new in LANCASTER.

        • Has it dawned on you that you are absolutely wrong? There are several police agencies right her in southern Cal that have a “eye in the sky” airplane a camera.

          Ok, LASDs coverage may be I their contract, but that doesn’t buy the city 24/7 coverage. they get coverage when a helo is available.

          A better question might be to ask how much extra the city would pay if they wanted to “upgrade” to 24/7 from LAS.

          • LEAPS is a one of a kind fiasco. No other agency is dumb or corrupt enough to waste $10 mill on something which is a useful as the human appendix. LEAPS is a way to make money for someone.

    • Laughing more than i probably should. They made a movie about a group of last years losers planning a heist to stay afloat. This is like some demented Hitchcock short!

    • Why would Kern County want it? They have helicopters and planes if they need it. Besides they have a damn good track record of apprehension at a cost far less than LEAPS.

  7. They should give this guy an award for pointing something at Rex’s punk-azz surveillance plane. Resistance is patriotic.

    • I’ll vote for anyone willing to appropriate funding for a second plane. LEAPS works. Criminals and losers hate it. I love it.

      • That plane hasn’t done squat. It flies over my house and I flip it the bird. It’s a scam making people rich while my neighborhood goes to hell.

      • You, Walmart, and the owners love it. Everybody I knows thinks it sucks. Let Walmart catch its own shoplifters. I’m tired of paying for their security.

  9. We can definitely do without LEAPS but sending it spiraling into an entire Antelope Valley neighborhood is not the best process of elimination – This idiot was pointing lasers at other aircraft as well, all of which would end badly if gravity prevailed as a result of some pilot being rendered helpless and unable to maintain control of his/her aircraft. LEAPS NO. 747 or any aircraft meeting the valley floor from the standard flight path elevation of 8000-10,000 feet – Worse. I don’t want to see a repeat of the Cerritos air disaster over my street simply because some idiot wanted to play with his laser toy.

    • I don’t want to see a repeat of the bombing of Hiroshima…which had just as much to do with laser pointers as the “Cerritos air disaster” did.

    • Why? Because it catches ghettoids, tweekers and morons with laser pointers in the act very effectively? I was skeptical of “Car Wreck’s” plane idea initially…but it works, quite well, in fact. I’ve been directly involved in situations where LEAPS was able to track down and collar criminals. Are you a criminal? Wait…I think I already know.

      • Effectively? 90 grand a month to find 2 walmart shoplifters and some punk with a pointer? What a waste of money. It’s a spy tool for an out of control freak.

  10. Ya gotta hand it to Ole Rex. Like Ole Charlie Sheen at a house o ill repute on a Two Fer Tuesday, Ole Rex juss don’t know when’s to quit. Now I dont’s know about a you but I ain’t seen and I ain’t heard a no planes crashing from no green lazer beams! But I sure has seen and heards a lot of guns and murders in Lancaster. Ole Rex, why don’t you just quit while’s you is behind and just mothball that piece o [removed] and do us a a favor and put the money to some good use. I’s suppose you caint think clear enough no mores to make no rational decision can ya?

      • Ole Rex the Godfather and proponent of the piece of crap Eye In The Sky shore is a product of the Antelope Valley. What that Mensa also come up with Big Dumb Ideas likes Birdie Sounds to lessen crime and makin a Christian City and sellin garbage through Ecolution. I’s also watched him on the TV there tellin people’s that Bangladesh is goin to be wiped out by a cyclone. He done said that an he wasn’t even on that there Psychic Friends show neither. One o these days Ole Rex may just be right about sumpin.

  11. To date, the number of deaths and accidents attributed to laser pointers aimed at air craft: 0. Nada. Zip.

    To date, the number of deaths and accidents attributed to alcohol:
    Alcohol-Related Deaths:
    Nearly 88,0009 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women10) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States

    In 2013, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 10,076 deaths (30.8 percent of overall driving fatalities). (Courtesy of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

    Yet Parris continues to generate false hype about his failed and costly spy plane, while promoting alcohol laden events such as the go cart races, Celebrate America, the fair, Field of Drafts, cheap beer night at Jethawks stadium, etc.

    What is wrong with this picture?

    • These handheld green laser toys are fairly new, just like all the toy drones.

      There hasn’t been one crash yet due to drones, but you see those reports oftn, just like you are now seeing more and more reports of the lasers being used.

      “There haven’t been any deaths” only means “so far”. Lasers do blind. Drones can crash into aircraft.

      • You need to get off the computer and read real newspapers. There was a crash of a drone yesterday causing injuries. Duh.

      • There hasn’t been an incident of LEAPS smashing into another plane—-yet. Funny how we didn’t hear anything about it’s near miss but it’s like the end of WWII when LEAPS finds a shoplifter, even though security cameras do the same thing.

    • Units roll up to your house at the exact location of the origin of the beam as confirmed by LEAPS and you have high-powered green laser pointer in your house, which deputies find. Another Lancaster Loser goes to jail. NEXT?!?

      • Just out of curiosity, did you stormtroopers get a warrant or was this a typical LACSD operation where constitutional rights were a secondary at best concern?

        • Since you’re bringing up the Constitution Tim, you as a liberal, might want to keep your dirty paws off the 2nd Amendment.

          • What a godly thing to say, Claire.

            But, by now, we all know what a hypocrite you are, Claire, and you use faith to hide behind but never actually live it.

            And, you are getting worse and worse as you slowly lose it.

            Keep on keepin’ on. You constantly show us the real you and not that ‘pretend’ you that you’ve tried to foist on us on this site.

            You should campaign as a county clerk in Kentucky. You fit the profile. Kim Davis is on her 4th marriage and refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex (or any other) couples for their FIRST marriages. You are a hypocrite just like her just different issues.

          • Since you are bring wild references out of nowhere just to try to be nasty at this point, all I can do is ask what you are talking about. If you have a lucid moment when you can be rational go ahead and clarify what you are raving about here.

          • Well if it isn’t the other flaming bigot. You have been using the word hypocrite on just about everyone since 2011 and probably way before, so your not credible. You’re blinkered, narrow-minded, intolerant (bigot), and a hypocrite. Of course you don’t see that in yourself; it would be too painful to admit. Keep your dirty paws off the second amendment also.

          • You apparently haven’t gotten back on the tracks yet. Concentrate Claire. You are apparently trying to say something about an attack on the second amendment somewhere. Since I have nothing to do with that and I haven’t seen anything from William about it either you aren’t making sense. Just try to calm down and type slowly. Do you have some meds somewhere?

          • Now, you’ve really gone off the deep end, Claire.

            Stop digging while you are ahead.

            I’ve given you many examples of your hypocrisy against the backdrop of your holy pretenses.

            You, however, just call me a hypocrite with nothing to back it up except your imagination which we now know is quite unrelated to reality.

            Were you banned under the username of FOREWARNED back in 2011? I don’t recall the username ‘Claire’ till recently and in the year 2015. Hmmm.

            Who do you think you’re foolin’ besides yourself? Your god knows full well what a hypocrite and liar you are and you must know that he/she knows it as well.

            What a bind you’re in, Claire/FOREWARNED.

          • Own it you two! As for you Tim, shame on you for trashing your dad on social media. What a lowdown thing to do calling him a flaming bigot. All I see is one, well no, two. Whether he was or wasn’t, putting your family business out there isn’t cool.

          • Own what? You made some wild spout about me attacking the second amendment that you can’t back up, and now I’m supposed to “own” something? What?

            As to the out of context reference you are citing now as if it had anything to do with the current question, for once I do find you to be genuinely offensive. Congratulations, since I know how hard you try.

            In the context where owning having been raised by a flaming bigot was relevant, I owned it. It has absolutely no bearing here, and as the saying goes, “get my father’s name out of your mouth.” And yes, if we were in physical proximity I would follow that with “before I smack it out and half your teeth with it.”

    • Agreed William…looks like they are grasping at straws, trying to justify the LEAPS program. Rumor has it, Rex Paris has a financial interest in the LEAPS program..AKA a waste of our tax dollars. Lets remember this joke next time we vote.

        • I consider myself reasonable. Taking into consideration the availability issue, the continual usage issue as well as the fast response time, it does seem to start sounding like a sound operation.

          Underlying issues at hand would be the crime rate of similar density areas without aerial surveillance around the clock, the cost effectiveness of the monthly charges versus the amount of patrols reduced by using the platform (along with the effectiveness of said patrols) and maybe the eventual coat effectiveness of having another platform operating.

          I don’t care for the price tag per month as it is and i can only count about five major incidents when this was used.

        • The Sheriff’s helicopter works too, and it doesn’t cost $90 grand a month. It’s in the contract. LEAPS is clearly a cash cow for Rex’s political supporter. If it is so wonderful why is no other law agency using it? Rex tried to sell is and was ignored. Privately it is laughed at. But what do you expect? This is the same brain trust that gave us bird music to reduce crime, the failure of Ecolution, and road paint.

          • Miami Dade Police apparently have a Cessna that is linked to a fictitious business. People claim its high power cameras are invading their privacy. It constantly makes semi circles around the city and people are “shocked” .

      • That isn’t a rumor, The Truth. One of the owners of the company that operates LEAPS is Frank Visco, a long time political ally and donor to our beloved mayor. If it smells fishy it’s because it is fishy.

  14. Mark this day on your calendars! LEAPS did SOMETHING. Nothing terribly significant, but SO MUCH MORE than we have come to expect for ninety grand a month.

    • Rex Paris and his costly plane is useless. The man needs to be in prison himself. Over $75 thousand a month to prosecute people who shine a light on them is pathetic! The lancster Obama folks. Liberal as can be and useless.

      • Actually in the late seventies. Then came back in the late eighties. Then left again in the mid nineties. Then back again a dozen years ago. Up until this last time I was a Lancaster resident. This time Rex and his city haul goon squad convinced me that even if I had responsibilities keeping me in the valley Lancaster was no place to live.

        • Well, the last phrase of the last sentence is right, anyway. The Antelope Valley has become LA county’s social cesspool. Time to cut it loose. I tried to get out last year, but the parade of unqualified “buyers” swarming up from the ghetto caused me to fall out of escrow FIVE times. Now, prices are up markedly…time to bail out while I still can.

          • Don’t let the door hit ya in the ass. The sooner you are gone the better, based on the opinions you express here.

          • Sorry to see you leave the AV.Sorry to see you leave the AV.Can you please take LEAPS with you.Can you please take LEAPS with you. No one wants it.No one wants it.Only Rex and his political contributor.Only Rex and his political contributor.Who makes $90,000.00 a month of taxpayer dollars.who makes $90,000.00 a month of taxpayers dollars.For a worthless piece of crap.For a worthless piece of crap.No to LEAPS.No to LEAPS.A 10,800,000.00 boondoggle. A $10,800,000.00 boondoggle.No to LEAPS.No to LEAPS.

    • What a joke.What a joke.A piece of crap plane that costs $90,000.00 a month caught an idiot with a laser pointer?A piece of crap plane that cost $90,000.00 a month caught an idiot with a laser pointer?Hallelujah.Hallelujah. Now the tragedy of planes crashing because of laser pointers will end.Now the tragedy of planes crashing because of laser pointers will end.What a joke.What a joke.There is a greater chance that LEAPS will crash into a plane first.There is a greater chance that LEAPS will crash into a plane first.Like it almost already did.Like it almost already did.This is the most significant thing LEAPS has done.This is the most significant think LEAPS has done.And it cost $4,000,000.00 so far.And it cost $4,000,000.00 so far.To catch a laser pointer.To catch a laser pointer.To stop planes from crashing even though they don’t crash.To stop planes from crashing that even don’t crash.Why not use the Sherriffs helicopter?Why not use the Sherriffs helicopter? We already pay for that.We already pay for that.No to LEAPS.No to LEAPS.Yes to Sherriffs helicopter.Yes to Sherriffs helicopter.

        • Suddenly I have a new theory on the style. The doubling every sentence may be a reference to his sometimes repeated point that LEAPS is not only a total waste in its own right, but also an outright duplication of the already existing helicopter. In this post he clearly emphasized that, but he doesn’t always. In the future though his duplicate sentences will remind me every time.

          • Tim Scott you are correct.Tim Scott you are correct.We already pay for the Sherriffs helicopter.We already pay for the Sherriffs helicopter.Why are we also paying for LEAPS.Why are we also paying for LEAPS.Because it is owned by Rexs political contributor.Because it is owned by Rexs political contributor.At $90,000.00 a month.For ten years.For ten years.That is $10,800,000.00.That is $10,800,000.00.No to LEAPS. No to LEAPS.

          • You goofs just don’t get it. The chopper costs a fortune to operate compared to a Cessna 172 in constant pattern around the city, and, although the camera system is limited, it does work, and I’ve been witness to that. The more the Lancaster sub uses the chopper, the more the cost to the city, when LEAPS can do most of what the chopper does in routine patrol and tracking of suspects in cars. I was a doubter, and no, I’m NO fan of “Car Wreck” Parris…but LEAPS works.

          • LEAPS, the pile of bolts that it is, is only at our “beck and call” as you say for 10 hours a day. In that 10 hours it does nothing but rack up bucks for Rex’s pals. Think about it–$10 million dollars to catch an occasional shoplifter, which is something the sheriff’s helicopter could easily do. Is it worth $10 million dollars to catch shoplifters? Really?

        • And these uneducated commenters also forget that the helicopter is not based here and is not even up here or available many times when it is needed.

          • What’s THIS? A spark of intelligence in the Antelope Valley??? It CAN’T be. You’re exactly on target…LEAPS has FAR more availability to the Lancaster Sub than does the airship, which ranges all over, and, when it IS deployed here, it’s at a far greater cost. LEAPS works, that’s why the scum up here hate it so much. As I’ve stated, I’m no fan of “Car Wrecks,” and I wasn’t enthralled by his “pudknocker patrol plane” initially…but it works, and he got it right (THIS time, anyway.). The very evidence herein provided by obviously unsavory types NOT liking it is further proof of its effectiveness. The creeps already know the wait time on an airship allows them plenty of cover-up and/or escape time…not so with LEAPS, as long as someone (like me) calls in with a tip. Hell, I’d even not be adverse to adding another plane! Look back at the crime tallies in the city area both before and after the public announcement of LEAPS operation…crime went DOWN. It’s back up again, due to the infusion of the area with premature convict releases, potheads committing property crimes and the invasion from South Central, making LEAPS even more necessary now than before.

          • Huh? The thugs don’t like LEAPS? Crime went down because of LEAPS? Pass the crack pipe. The thugs don’t even know it exists, nor do they care. Crime went down in lots of places without LEAPS. Are you two on the payroll? I get it if you are. That’s some easy money, suckling at the public trough. Go talk to some people in law enforcement some day on the QT and they’ll tell you what they really think of LEAPS. By the way, LASD doesn’t charge for the use of the helicopter. It’s in the contract. I see it quite often here in Lancaster, more often than I’d like to see it.

          • The copters used to get parked, fueled and repaired at the old prison compound on I out on the west side. They are local last time I checked.

          • Part of the Parris mantra is to repeat the false allegation that the sheriff’s copters are too costly (although they are part of the contract), they are not readily available (although they are very available and frequently seen), and that crime has gone down because of LEAPS (crime has gone down nationwide WITHOUT LEAPS). Our neighboring cities have lower crime rates and do not rob their citizens with a boondoggle like LEAPS.

          • @Are you sure: because they land to get fuel at Mira Loma, you think that means they are based here? How about you make one phone call to the sheriff department and ask if we have a helicopter based here. Report back with your findings

          • @are you sure: I’m not going to read a 120 page document from 2009 to see what you are trying to say.

            We agree that the helo refuels there. If you still think that means the helo is based there and is at our beck and call 24/7, I strongly suggest you just pick up the phone and ask LASD.

          • @AVer, you might try the same advice. Ask to talk to the air support services. I provided the brief facts derived from the linked ducument, no need to try, I was clear. Refueling, repair and housing oh helos.

          • I did, you nitwit.. The helo is NOT based here.

            Now once again, I want you to talk to aero bureau tomorrow and find out for yourself. Don’t just link to some 6 year old document

      • More LEAPS. More LEAPS. Tweekers, stoners and ghetto creeps hate it. Tweekers, stoners and ghetto creeps hate it. So do the clueless right wingers. So do the clueless right wingers. Must be good. Must be good. More deputies. More deputies. Less filth. Less filth. Lancaster is hopeless. Lancaster is hopeless. You’re proof. You’re proof.

        • The proof of the complete failure of LEAPS is evidenced by its lack of substantive results in relation to its costs, and it’s complete and utter rejection by all respected law enforcement, emergency, and governmental agencies. The only reason it exists is because we have a borderline mayor who is indebted politically and financially to certain supporters. LEAPS is one in a line of failed, flakey ideas from a troubled mind.

          • That was so good, you could almost put it to music.

            I especially liked “borderline mayor” and “troubled mind”.

            How true. How true.

            It was fairly predictable from the very start of his first term that he would be a disaster for the city. I wish we could have placed bets. I woulda made a bundle.