(AP) -- BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) - The third of four suspects in the theft of a half-ton of meat from a Bay County slaughterhouse has been sentenced to 178 days behind bars. Circuit Judge Joseph Sheeran said he would cut another 185 days from David M. Payne's jail time if Payne successfully completes his sentence plus three years of probation.

Payne, of Pinconning, was among four people accused in the March 14 theft at the slaughterhouse in his hometown 115 miles north of Detroit. He pleaded guilty in August to breaking and entering and larceny.

Jolene M. Willis, 29, faces a March 9 trial on the same charges as those against Payne.

The third co-defendant was sentenced to a year in jail and the fourth was put on probation for three years.

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)