McComb man pleads guilty to lying

4/7/2014

A McComb, Ohio, man is to be sentenced Aug. 25 for lying to federal investigators about an incident in which a laser pointer was aimed at an aircraft in Hancock County.

Ronald E. Deal, Sr., 57, pleaded guilty last week to making a false statement or representation to a department or agency of the United States before Magistrate Judge Vernelis Armstrong in U.S. District Court.

He admitted on Wednesday that between Aug. 5, and Aug. 9, 2012, he told federal investigators that he did not know anything about the laser-pointer incident in Hancock County on June 17, 2012.

Deal later falsely took the blame for pointing the laser at the aircraft even though he knew who actually pointed it.