A convicted criminal was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Wednesday after threatening his girlfriend with a gun.

On Oct. 11, 2010, court documents show that Timothy Allen Weeks, 32, of Lake City ,got into a fight with his girlfriend. He threatened to beat her face in with the handle of a .22 caliber pistol, according to the documents.

The girlfriend fled to a neighbor's house where they heard a shot go off, court documents showed. Weeks showed up in the neighbor's yard with the gun in his waistband. Neighbors called police and Weeks was arrested, according to official reports.

Weeks pleaded guilty on Sept. 19 on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

U.S. District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger sentenced Weeks Wednesday as an armed, career criminal. He had previously been convicted for several burglaries and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.