HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — An Orange County man pleaded guilty Monday in the stabbing death an off-duty sheriff's deputy.

Investigators said Devin Scott Rigsbee, of Mebane, stabbed Hertford County Deputy Thomas Carrell Lewis during an argument alongside Interstate 40 in May 2004.

Lewis, of Windsor, died May 1 of multiple stab wounds to the back.

Rigsbee was charged with first-degree murder, but in a plea deal with prosecutors, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to a maximum of 16.5 years in prison.

Three other men -- Phillip Rigsbee, Joshua Abrams and Eric Isley -- were in the car with Rigsbee at the time of the argument, police said. They were charged with accessory after the fact. Prosecutors claim all three tried to destroy evidence.