A Fresno-area man who initially made a baffling attempt to explain to law enforcement how his laser pointer repeatedly hit a California Highway Patrol aircraft multiple times— "It just shot upward from my pocket and hit the plane" —has now been sentenced to six months in prison. He pleaded guilty to endangering an aircraft with his laser earlier this year.

"I keep thinking this offense was committed by a 12-year-old. But it was not," US District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill told defendant Jeremy Scott Danielson during the Monday sentencing hearing, according to a statement sent to Ars. "You could have brought the CHP plane down by blinding the pilot. You jeopardized their eyes and their safety."

Despite the judge's claim, a plane has never been brought down due to a laser strike. However, for more than a decade, federal authorities have been concerned that terrorists or other ne'er-do-wells might try to. Under the Obama administration, federal penalties for laser strikes have been strengthened.

Danielson, 35, of Clovis, California, was federally prosecuted in 2015 after he was accused of firing his laser six times at a CHP plane in September 2014. Shortly after the laser was discharged, a Clovis police officer located Danielson and found his laser. The officer found that the laser was marked with "Laser 301," meaning a model capable of firing at 200 milliwatts at a range of 6,000 feet and even setting small objects alight at short-range.

As Ars has reported, it’s notoriously difficult for authorities to pinpoint where a laser strike originates from, particularly when pointed at a commercial aircraft. But when fired on law enforcement aircraft (particularly helicopters that can easily hold their position in the air), finding the perpetrator is far easier.

The Department of Justice says that there have been more than 23,000 laser illumination incidents in the United States reported to the Federal Aviation Administration between 2011 and 2015. There have been more than 22 laser strikes reported in the United States every day during the first few months of 2016.

In the federal judicial district that encompasses 34 California counties, including Fresno and Kern, there were 214 reported laser incidents in 2015. Of those, and some earlier, Assistant United States Attorney Karen Escobar has prosecuted 17—she is believed to have brought the largest number of such cases of any prosecutor nationwide.