When a pre-release iPhone 4 prototype went missing at a beer garden last year and ended up being sold to Gizmodo, the stakes seemed high. Investigators seized an editor’s computers and charged two men with crimes connected to the alleged theft. But several months and an entire newer iPhone model release later, the drama turned out to be much ado about very little. Two men accused of selling the device were sentenced to a year of probation, 40 hours of community service and a not-so-whopping $250 restitution they must both pay to Apple. They pleaded no contest to charges of misdemeanor theft.

CNET reports the San Matteo County District Attorney, who let Gizmodo of the hook in August, said he asked for jail time for the convicts, but the judge was lenient because one of the men served in the military, the other was enrolled in college and neither had a prior criminal record. The attorney called the affair a “fairly routine theft case.”

iPhone theft suspects enter no-contest plea [CNET via TechCrunch]

Previously: Two Charged In Swiping Of iPhone 4 Prototype; Neither Are Bloggers

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