SAN DIEGO -- A man who punched and stabbed an employee at a San Diego swinger's club after being asked to leave was sentenced Monday to 13 years in state prison.

Ricardo Luis Pena, 29, was convicted last October of residential burglary, petty theft and assault with a deadly weapon.

The attack took place about 10 p.m. last Feb. 24 at Thad's at 3517 E St. in the Stockton area.

Pena -- whose girlfriend worked at the club -- began flirting with a female patron and was asked to leave, according to court testimony.

Police said when officers arrived at the club -- which requires men to go nude but allows women the choice of being naked or wearing lingerie -- both the victim, David Poppell, and the assailant were gone.

Later in the night, however, the victim, who is also the club owner's son, turned up at Alvarado Hospital, where he was treated for non-life threatening wounds.

About 5:30 a.m. the next morning, Pena returned to the club with a knife and awakened the club owner, Thad Poppell, who pulled a gun on the suspect, according to court testimony.

"He said, 'I'm going to kill you, you son of a [expletive].' And when he said that, I pulled the covers back, brought my pistol up and cocked it as I brought it up. He fell back against the wall and said, 'Oh no; don't shoot,'" said Thad Poppell.

Pena barricaded himself in a bathroom, and was arrested about a half- hour later after he jumped out of a second-story window onto a patio awning and ran.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Frank Brown noted the defendant had a history with knives and violence.

When he was 14 years old, Pena was caught with a knife at school. Later, he became involved in gangs, stabbed another person in Hawaii and burglarized a local store.

In 2003, he was involved in a carjacking in Chula Vista.

"The victim was incredibly vulnerable. She was a schoolteacher, after school, just walking to her car," said prosecutor Michelle Laleggio.

The stabbing incident was the first major problem the owner said he's dealt with in the 40 years he's owned the club.

Though he said he trusts the judge's decision, Thad Poppell said he's afraid of what may happen after Pena is released from prison.

"I don't think he will change," he said.

Pena now has three strikes against him which include two from this latest crime and one from a prior conviction.

If he reoffends after he finishes his 13-year sentence, he will automatically receive 25 years in jail.