'Romantic' balloons lead to arrest

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DANIA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The Florida Highway Patrol said a man seen releasing a dozen heart-shaped Mylar balloons with his girlfriend was charged with a felony.

The patrol said a trooper saw Anthony Brasfield, 40, send up the balloons Sunday in the parking lot of a Motel 6 in Dania Beach while with his girlfriend, Shaquina Baxter, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Monday.

Brasfield was charged under the Florida Air and Water Pollution Control Act with polluting to harm humans, animals, plants, etc., the highway patrol said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said that between 2008 and 2012 the state had 21 arrests under the little-used statute.

The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.