A gavel rests on the judge’s bench in the courtroom of the 39th Air Base Wing legal office at Nov. 14, 2019, at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. (Joshua Jospeh Magbanu/U.S. Air Force)

Four Defense Department police officers and another civilian employee will each spend at least one year in federal prison after admitting they conspired to steal military gear from Anniston Army Depot in Alabama to be sold at a nearby military surplus store, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The owner of the military surplus store in central Alabama’s Sylacauga and two others described by the Justice Department as middlemen were also sentenced to more than one-year prison terms, federal authorities said. Seven of the eight individuals pleaded guilty to the conspiracy last year, while the other was convicted at trial, according to DOJ. They were recently sentenced in federal court.

Federal prosecutors said police officers from the Anniston Army Depot Directorate of Emergency Services — including two high ranking officers — and DOD civilians spent years stealing night vision gear from warehouses, including scopes that “attached to military weapon systems to provide operators with instant nighttime engagement capabilities and/or improved target acquisition.” The police and DOD civilians delivered the stolen items to middlemen who then provided it to the military surplus store for sale. The conspirators split the profits of their scheme, prosecutors said.

Those sentenced recently were:

• Jerry Baker, 63, of Hokes Bluff, Ala., who was a captain with the depot’s Directorate of Emergency Services. Baker pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to steal U.S. property. He was sentenced to 25 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $3.75 million to the Defense Department.

• Kelvin Battle, 54, of Anniston, Ala., who was a sergeant with the depot’s Directorate of Emergency Services. Battle pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal U.S. property and was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $2,414,582 to the Defense Department.

• Eric Matraia, 54, of Munford, Ala., who was a guard with the Directorate of Emergency Services. Matraia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal U.S. property, and he was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to pay $3 million restitution to the Defense Department.

• Shane Farthing, 42, of Gadsden, Ala., who was a guard with the Directorate of Emergency Services. Farthing pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal U.S. property and was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $707,000 restitution to the Defense Department.

• Scott Bunch, 54, of Alexandria, Ala., who was a Defense Logistics Agency supervisor. Bunch pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal U.S. property and was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay $3.75 million restitution to the Defense Department.

• Christopher Price, 55, of Childersburg, Ala., who was the owner of a military surplus store in Sylacauga. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal U.S. property and was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay $3,940,940 restitution to the Defense Department.

• Steve Bonner, 63, of Goodwater, Ala., who was a middleman. Bonner was found guilty of conspiracy to steal U.S. property following a four-day trial, and he was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,873,300 in restitution to the Defense Department.

• James Kenneth Scott, 73, of Sylacauga, who was a middleman. Scott pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal U.S. property and was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution to the Defense Department.

Two other Defense Logistics Agency employees, Stantillio Whitfield and Tevin Fletcher, pleaded guilty in 2022 for their roles in the gear stealing scheme.

The Justice Department brought charges against the men in 2022 and 2023 after an investigation by the Defense Department inspector general’s Criminal Investigative Service, the Defense Logistics Agency inspector general and the Army Criminal Investigation Division.

Officials said the scheme not only cost the Defense Department money and equipment but also eroded the Army’s combat readiness.