A 26-year-old Albert Lea man on Tuesday pleaded guilty in Freeborn County District Court to first-degree burglary of a Glenville residence in July.

Thomas Eugene Vaale was scheduled for a jury trial Tuesday but instead entered the plea. It was classified as an Alford plea, in which a defendant maintains innocence but admits the prosecution has enough evidence to convict of one, if not all, of the charges.

According to a Freeborn County Court Administration spokeswoman, the Freeborn County Attorney’s Office and Vaale’s public defender are recommending Vaale serve a 21-month prison sentence. No other recommendations were given.

He is scheduled to be sentenced at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 27.

The maximum penalty for the crime is 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

According to court records, this is not Vaale’s first burglary conviction as he was previously convicted of second-degree burglary in 2006 in Freeborn County.

He was also convicted in September of one count of attempted third-degree burglary and one count of third-degree burglary of an unoccupied vehicle in Worth County.

In the most recent Freeborn County instance, he walked into a home uninvited on 755th Avenue in Glenville on July 20 where two girls were there alone.

The girls later identified Vaale as the man who entered their house in a police photo lineup.