BELLINGHAM - A Bellingham man faces more than five years behind bars after pleading guilty to a drive-by shooting and rioting in jail Thursday, Feb. 14.

Three bullets from Sergey Petrovich Zhuk's handgun shattered the bedroom windows of a Henry Street house early July 8, 2012, according to charging documents filed in Whatcom County Superior Court.

Zhuk had gone to the house that morning and asked to speak with an ex-girlfriend. A man at the house ordered him to leave. Zhuk responded - prosecutors alleged - by whipping out a handgun and repeating his demand to see the woman.

Eventually, he left the front steps and got into a gold Acura. Four to six shots rang out, breaking the windows of the ex-girlfriend's bedroom and the bedroom windows of two other residents. Bullets were lodged in the walls and in a car parked in the driveway.

Zhuk, 26, drove off. He couldn't be found. Three days later he surrendered to police but refused to talk with detectives.

In October, he helped instigate a riot in the Whatcom County Jail, causing thousands of dollars in damage and leaving an entire cell block unusable for weeks.

In his guilty plea paperwork, signed on Thursday, prosecutors suggested a prison sentence of five years and nine months. A date has not been set for Zhuk's official sentencing before a judge.

Zhuk has past convictions for felony drug crimes, felony assault, second-degree burglary, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of stolen property.

Reach Caleb Hutton at 360-715-2276 or caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com. Read his dispatcher blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/dispatcher or follow him on Twitter at @bhamcrime.