(Rocky Mount, Va.) — A judge has sentenced Aaron Dean to three life terms for the murder and robbery of a Franklin County teenager.

Dean was originally charged with capital murder, which could have carried the death penalty. Instead, he pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of 18-year-old Allyn Gray Riddle in August of last year. The two were friends and Riddle was murdered in his home while taking a shower.

Dean confessed to the murder in an interview with Franklin County Sheriff’s investigators. He reportedly shot Riddle in a plot to steal some guns from Riddle’s family. Prosecutors say Dean told authorities the shooting and theft was part of a scheme to become a vigilante who went after drug smugglers. Dean said the vigilante plot was hatched with his friend, John Isaiah Hodges, whose trial in the case is set for April.

Dean earlier entered guilty pleas to eight felony charges, including first-degree murder.