A North Carolina man was ordered to serve 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to shooting a man to death at that man’s Horry County vacation home in 2009, according to court records.

Thomas Edward Shipplett, 61, of Calabash, N.C., pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Wednesday and Circuit Court Judge Benjamin H. Culbertson sentenced him to 10 years in prison with credit for time he had previously served, according to court records. Shipplett also was ordered to pay court costs.

Horry County police found the body of 56-year-old Dale McDuffie Hammond on a pool deck of his vacation home in the Cedar Creek Village subdivision in July 2009, after Shipplett turned himself in to authorities at the North Myrtle Beach Police Department.

Police said that at the time of the incident the men were acquaintances.

Hammond of Cerro Gordo, N.C., was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said at the time of the incident.

Contact TONYA ROOT at 444-1723.