An Effingham County man was jailed Friday, charged with second-degree home invasion, after he broke into a house to reach his estranged wife and children, who had moved away to avoid him because of domestic violence, according to the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office.

Shannon Paul Mincey, 32, of Clyo-Kildare Road, was the first person in Bulloch County to be charged under a new home invasion statute that took effect July 1, Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson said.

"The statute makes it a felony to enter an occupied dwelling while armed for the purposes of committing a crime," Anderson said.

Bulloch County deputies responded around 11:45 p.m. Friday to a residence on Stilson-Leefield Road in the Leefield community for a reported home invasion.

Deputies found Mincey at the scene and determined he "had broken into the residence in an attempt to locate his estranged wife and children, who had moved to the residence from (Effingham) County because of domestic violence in the home," Anderson said.

Mincey had just been released earlier in the week from the Effingham County Jail. He knocked out a window air-conditioning unit to enter the home, and was found to have a knife in his possession when he was arrested, Anderson said.

Also, a gun was found in his vehicle, located a short distance away, the sheriff said.

Mincey was transported was transported to the Bulloch County Jail where he is being held without bond, charged with second-degree home invasion, possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, six counts of third-degree cruelty to children, reckless conduct, simple battery, disorderly conduct, public intoxication and criminal trespass.