ANDERSON COUNTY — A man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison after he admitted to killing — along with his son — two people in Belton in 2006.

Louis Richey pleaded guilty to murder and accessory to murder. He faced a sentence of 30 years to life on each charge. Judge J. Cordell Maddox, however, issued the stiffest penalty possible against Richey.

“This defendant will spend the rest of his life in prison and will no longer pose a danger to our community,” 10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams said in a news release.

Richey was in custody in the Anderson County Detention Center but will be transferred to a South Carolina Department of Corrections facility.

On Dec. 12, 2006, Louis Richey and his son, Phillip Richey, 27, entered Shandon Putman’s home in Belton. Phillip Richey had purchased drugs in the past at that location and had recently traded his father’s toolbox for drugs, according to a solicitor’s office news release.

That day, Richey and his son went to retrieve the tools and shot Putman and 36-year-old Carroll Martin, who was also at the Belton home that day. Martin was shot once in the face and died instantly. Putman was shot multiple times with 2 different handguns.

In his plea, Richey admitted to arming himself before entering the house and taking part in the homicide of Shandon Putnam, according to the release.

Richey and his son then fled to North Carolina, where the guns later were recovered and matched to the victims and the crime scene, according to the release. Witnesses later identified the Richeys in a photo lineup, saying both men were at the Belton home just prior to the shootings.

Phillip Richey died at the Anderson County Detention Center in 2007, when he overdosed on methamphetamines.