The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has announced that two Los Angeles men arrested on July 4 in connection with pointing green laser beams at aircraft, have been charged with felony crimes.

Floyd Atkins, 22, and Alvaro Jimenez, 20, were each charged with two counts of discharge of a laser at an aircraft.  The criminal complaint alleges the crimes occurred on July 4, the same day they were arrested.

The defendants pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on July 6.  Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra released both defendants on their own recognizance, and ordered that neither could possess lasers.  A preliminary hearing was scheduled for July 20.

Atkins and Jimenez were arrested a week after a similar laser-pointing incident occurred on June 27 involving California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles Police Department helicopters.  No suspect has been identified in that incident.

If convicted, each defendant could be sentenced to a maximum state prison term of three years and eight months.