BARRE — A Winooski man is to spend nearly a year in prison after the theft of televisions from Bisbee’s Hardware in Waitsfield more than a year ago.

Michael Francis, 50, was sentenced to 11 to 12 months in prison on a charge of petit larceny and one count of possession of stolen property. In a plea agreement, one count of grand larceny was dismissed and one count of grand larceny was dropped to petit larceny. Francis was granted credit for the time he has served in prison since Aug. 7.

According to court affidavits, police were dispatched to the hardware store Jan. 14, 2011, after being told that a man and woman had taken two televisions. The trooper investigating the case said a similar theft had occurred at the store in September 2010.

Witnesses gave descriptions of a man and woman who had entered the store while it was open and took the televisions out a back door. The witness also described the vehicle they were driving.

More than a month after the theft, one of the witnesses called police to report having seen the vehicle while visiting Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. Police used that information to help find the suspects.

Police said they later identified Francis and found he was under Department of Corrections supervision for convictions including possession of stolen property and felony retail theft.

Police obtained a search warrant for Francis’ residence, where they reported finding two televisions from the September 2010 theft. No televisions from the January 2011 theft were recovered.

Francis was also ordered to pay restitution for the stolen televisions.