HARRISBURG - Despite his claims that it was an accident, a Dauphin County judge sentenced an East Shore man to prison Thursday for firing off a bottle rocket that landed in Hersheypark and injured a 9-year-old girl.

The New Jersey girl, who was vacationing with her family, suffered burns that were treated at the scene of the July 6 incident, First Assistant District Attorney Fran Chardo said.

Dauphin County Courthouse

"But it could have been worse," he said. "This could have been an aggravated assault."

Judge Andrew H. Dowling sentenced Charles A. Tomes III, 36, of Hershey, to 1 to 23 months in county prison and fined him $275 on his guilty pleas to charges of reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

Tomes, who has prior convictions for drunken driving and disorderly conduct in Dauphin County and a DUI conviction in Perry County, launched the rocket around 7 p.m. from a wine bottle in the yard of a bar beside the park, Chardo said.

"Why did you do it?" Dowling asked.

"It wasn't that I was aiming for the park," Tomes replied. "It was a bottle rocket. It was an accident…It just got away."

"I never intended to injure anybody," he added.

Tomes said he took full responsibility and handed the rest of his fireworks over to police as soon as they told him what had happened.

Chardo urged Dowling to hit Tomes with a prison term. Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Ruby emphasized what she said was the accidental nature of the offense and suggested house arrest or some other lesser penalty.

"He wants to keep working," Ruby said. "He wants to move on from this."

Tomes said he never regarded what happened as a joke, and he insisted that it wasn't alcohol-related.

"I have children of my own," he told the judge. "I'd be upset if this happened to me, too."