MURRELLS INLET, SC (WBTW) – Tuesday, Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson announced a Myrtle Beach man pleaded guilty to burglarizing a Georgetown County house where the homeowner found him in his pool house armed with an African spear.

According to the press release, Joseph Skinner, 52, pleaded guilty to first degree burglary and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

On Sept. 3, 2016, Georgetown County deputies were called to a burglary in progress in Murrells Inlet. When officers arrived, they found the homeowner had a man on the floor at gunpoint.

The homeowner told officers a motion sensor woke him up, and when he went outside to investigate, he heard music coming from an adjacent building on the property. Investigators say the homeowner found Skinner inside the pool house holding an African spear in his hand, according to the release.

The homeowner told Skinner to get on the ground, but he refused, so the homeowner kicked Skinner to the ground and held him at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived. Skinner made several threats against the homeowner before deputies arrived, the press release states.

Skinner also had a long criminal history of felonies including two prior burglary charges.