A 25-year-old man with a significant criminal history will spend 2 to 4 years in state prison on a burglary conviction.

Jon P. Neely of Middlesex Township was sentenced Tuesday by Butler County Judge William Shaffer.

Neely, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of burglary, broke into a home in Middlesex Township in September 2012 and stole items.

Among those items was a handgun that later turned up in a suspected home invasion in Beaver Falls.

In that case, an unknown black robber forced his way into a house on Nov. 16, and found himself face to face with the occupants. The robber attempted to fire the gun, but it did not fire because it had been loaded improperly. It was later recovered by investigators.

Neely, who is white, is not a suspect in the home invasion. Investigators are not sure how the weapon got from the Middlesex burglary to the Beaver County robbery.

Neely’s criminal record includes three previous burglary convictions, two in Beaver County and one in Allegheny County.

Judge Shaffer, who fashioned Neely’s sentence without a recommendation from prosecutors, told him “you dug yourself a hole” with his previous record.

Neely had asked Shaffer for leniency, saying he’s remorseful and is struggling against an alcohol addiction. Neely’s mother and brother also spoke on his behalf, calling him a hard worker and good father.

The victims did not attend the hearing.

In addition to the prison time, Neely was ordered to serve 18 months of probation and pay the victims $1,495 in restitution.

Neely, who has credit for 268 days he already spent in prison since his arrest, is eligible for the state prison’s boot camp program and an incentive program that would call for his early release if he completes the specified program. However, his admittance to either program would need approval from officials in the state prison system.