BEDFORD, Ind. (AP) _ A southern Indiana teenager has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for his role in the beating death of a man in his rural home.

Eighteen-year-old Austin Curtin of Bedford pleaded guilty to a murder charge in a Lawrence County court Monday for the February death of 43-year-old Rodney Allender.

The Times-Mail reports (http://bit.ly/1qIBNhj ) the plea agreement calls for him to testify against 19-year-old Taylor Flynn of Bedford and a 16-year-old boy. They were arrested on murder warrants in the southern Ohio city of Ironton a couple days after Allender was found dead in his home about 60 miles south of Indianapolis.

A tearful Curtis testified he couldn't express how sorry he was for what he called a “catastrophe.''

Authorities say money and guns were taken from Allender's home.