A registered sex offender pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to life in prison on a charge of lewd and lascivious battery in connection with an incident that happened with a teen girl.

St. Johns County deputies arrested Freddie Felder III in the front yard of his Hastings home in March 2011, six months after the crime. He was charged with lewd or lascivious battery on a victim between the ages of 12-15.

Deputies said their investigation began on Sept. 6, 2010, when the girl reported an incident where a man she didn't know had entered her bedroom through a window between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. The girl told investigators that the man threatened her with a knife.

Deputies said the man was wearing a mask at the time to hide his identity.

Investigators said DNA evidence was collected and sent to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab. They said the DNA profile was compared to a DNA database, which identified Felder as the suspect.

Felder, 36, was convicted of attempted sexual battery with a weapon in May 2000 and was sentenced to more than five years in prison. He was released in June 2003 following a Jimmy Ryce Act and civil commitment hearing and was registered as a sexual offender.