Two men were convicted in German court on Wednesday of handling stolen property from the U.S. Army’s Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany. (Joseph Barron/U.S. Air Force)

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — A pair of German nationals received 21-month suspended sentences this week after they were convicted of handling stolen U.S. Army equipment that had been taken from a Bavarian training area.

More than $465,000 in gear was stolen from the Grafenwoehr Training Area, but the two men were convicted only of handling a small portion of that equipment at a regional criminal court in Weiden on Wednesday.

A 43-year-old from Weiden was convicted of one count of receiving stolen goods totaling about $16,000, while a 31-year-old from Tirschenreuth was found guilty on eight counts of the same charge, totaling around $21,000. The men weren’t named under Germany’s privacy laws.

Their sentences were suspended for an unspecified amount of time, meaning they will not see any jail time unless convicted of additional crimes.

The stolen equipment included headsets, tents, gas masks and even a Geiger counter, regional court spokesman Florian Bauer said Friday in a statement.

A theft charge against the 43-year-old, who had previously run a military memorabilia store in Schnaittenbach, couldn’t be substantiated and was downgraded to the charge of handling the stolen goods.

Schnaittenbach is located approximately 10 miles southeast of Grafenwoehr Training Area, which is home to the 7th Army Training Command.

The investigation began more than two years ago after German police were contacted by the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, Bauer said. In February 2022, there was a break-in at an Army motor pool in Grafenwoehr through a wire fence.

Approximately $345,000 worth of equipment was stolen from a shipping container, located where National Guardsmen were tasked with training Ukrainian soldiers, Bauer said.

Police focused their attention on the two men, who were already under investigation for similar offenses.

The 43-year-old was charged on Sept. 7, 2023, with stealing or receiving the $345,000 worth of gas masks, mask test kits and a Geiger counter, Bauer said. Some of the items were sold through online platforms, Bauer added.

The 31-year-old was charged that same day with buying and selling about $120,000 worth of sunglasses, headsets, tents and Meals, Ready to Eat that were stolen from Grafenwoehr and obtained from two U.S. Army soldiers.

Bauer referred questions about the two soldiers to the Army. A spokeswoman for the 7th Army Training Command did not immediately respond Friday.