NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- A federal judge sentenced Wesley Hadsell to 20 years in prison Tuesday for an ammunition charge that dated back to 2013.
Hadsell pleaded guilty to the charge earlier this year.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen considered the totality of Hadsell's criminal history, which began when he was 12, and ruled he was an armed career criminal.
The classification increased the minimum sentencing guideline for Hadsell from 10 years to 15 years.
The judge's sentence of 20 years is five more years than the prosecution requested, and surprised Hadsell's defense attorney Jason Dunn.
"Obviously we're disappointed today in the court's ruling today on the armed career criminal classification of my client that enabled her to double his sentence," said Dunn. "He was only going to be subject to to 10 years before that and we intend to appeal."
Hadsell first came into the spotlight after his stepdaughter, 18-year-old Anjelica "AJ" Hadsell disappeared in 2015.
Police discovered the ammunition while searching the hotel room where Hadsell was staying.
Judge Wright found it "mind-boggling" and "brazen" for Hadsell to knowingly possess ammunition given his criminal record.
"There's no question in the court's mind that we're safer as a society if you're not here for a while," Wright said.
Hadsell has not been charged in his stepdaughter's death.
Investigators found Hadsell's body in April 2015 near an abandoned home in Southampton County. The medical examiner's office determined she died from acute heroin poisoning.
Hadsell, 38, still faces another charge for the heroin police found in the hotel where he kept the ammo.
The Delaware County, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney’s Office informed Norfolk officers in July of this year that a grand jury indicted Hadsell on two counts of Rape, one count of Kidnapping and one count of Felonious Assault related to an incident that took place in Ohio in 2005.