A former Vermont National Guard soldier has been sentenced for stealing weapons while in Iraq, mailing them to his home in New Hampshire and trying to sell them.
Forty-two-year-old Joseph Downing, formerly of Thornton, N.H., was accused of stealing two high-explosive rocket-propelled grenades, 119 bullets, five ammunition magazines for M-16 rifles and two laser sights.
Downing was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Concord to a year and a day in federal prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing and trying to sell the weapons and possessing an unregistered weapon.