(KNZA)--An Atchison man convicted of charges in connection with a string of burglaries in the southeast part of Brown County last year has been sentenced to one and a half years in prison.

Brown County Attorney Kevin Hill said 42-year-old Richard Croft was sentenced Monday in Brown County District Court on three counts of burglary.

He pleaded no contest to the charges in July. In exchange for the plea, three other counts were dismissed.

During the sentencing hearing, Hill said Croft's attorney asked for probation, and he asked the court to sentence him to prison by invoking a special rule under the state's sentencing guidelines on an otherwise presumptive probation case when someone is being sentenced for a burglary conviction and has two or more prior convictions for theft as Croft did.

In the end, Hill said the judge agreed to invoke the special rule as requested by the state and sentenced him to a total of 18 months in prison.

Croft was remanded to the Brown County Jail to be delivered to a state prison.

He was arrested last November following a joint investigation by the Brown County Sheriff's Department and several surrounding law enforcement agencies.

Croft was suspected in a series of burglaries and thefts in northeast Kansas last year, but so far as only been charged in Brown and Atchison Counties.

According to court documents, he was charged last month in Atchison County District Court with 20 counts--including burglary, theft, criminal damage to property and arson--in connection with alleged crimes last October and November in Atchison County.