(AP) — A Scottsbluff man will serve at least eight years in prison for stealing from two churches in the Nebraska Panhandle this spring.

29-year-old Thomas Wright, Jr. was sentenced to 16 to 20 years in prison, but he will be eligible for parole in eight years.

Wright has admitted to breaking into Immanuel Lutheran Church in Alliance and stealing more than $1,500. He also says he took a money bag from St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Alliance.

In exchange for his guilty pleas, the state did not pursue charging Wright as a habitual criminal.