WASHINGTON — A puzzling Stafford County goat theft is one step closer to resolution.

Steven Calleja was convicted Thursday on two counts of larceny of goats with intent to sell; he was acquitted of four other charges, according to the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.

A Stafford County jury has recommended that Calleja spend eight years in prison for his crime.

The goats were taken in January from two families who live off of Garrisonville Road. The owners said these animals were treasured pets and were heartbroken when the goats were stolen.

It was later learned that the goats were sold to a halal meat shop in Fredericksburg and to a Northern Neck man, the newspaper reports.

Those goats, along with two others stolen in Spotsylvania County, were found at the Fredericksburg Livestock Exchange and the meat shop in good condition several days after they went missing, the newspaper reports.

Calleja was sentenced to two years, with all but 10 days suspended, for the Spotsylvania theft.

He will learn his formal sentence for the Stafford charges in December.