CHRISTIANSBURG -- A Blacksburg High School basketball player was one of three teens convicted Wednesday in connection with a March theft.

Harland Lain Brown Jr., 18, was charged with robbery after a Virginia Tech graduate student reported being hit and his iPod taken the afternoon of March 19. Elon Blaine Horton III, 18, was also charged with robbery. Matthew Jeremy Holland, 15, was charged with robbery and assault and battery.

The three, who were all younger than 18 when the incident happened but charged as adults, were scheduled to go to trial on the felony robbery charges Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Instead, they all pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges because the victim didn't show up to testify.

Assistant Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Dean Manor said Suneel Sarma now lives in Utah and didn't want to travel to Virginia for the hearing.

Sarma told police that he had just gotten off the bus at Foxridge Apartments in midafternoon when he was approached by a group of boys, Manor said in court.

One of them struck him and he was knocked to the ground and his iPod fell out of his pocket. One of the boys picked it up and they all ran off, Manor said.

At a preliminary hearing on the charges in Montgomery County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in May, Sarma testified that one of the boys punched him in the face and when he fell over, he was hit again and kicked in the chest, according to a transcript of the hearing.

Blacksburg police Det. Q.R. Self testified at that hearing that Brown first denied being involved in the incident, then admitted that he was present. A judge ordered him to home confinement after the May hearing.

At Wednesday's hearing, Manor reduced the charge against Brown to interfering with property rights. As part of his plea agreement, Brown was sentenced to two months in jail, all suspended, and will spend 12 months on supervised probation.

The charge against Horton was amended to petit larceny. He was sentenced to three months in jail with two months suspended. He will be allowed to serve his sentence on weekends and will also spend 12 months on probation.

The robbery charge against Holland was dropped and he pleaded guilty to assault and battery. He was sentenced to six months in a detention facility with five months suspended and 12 months probation. He will be allowed to spend his time on home electronic monitoring.

Brown, a forward, started as a junior on Blacksburg's boys basketball team that finished 21-9 and reached the VHSL Group AA semifinals in Richmond last year.

That's where the Bruins lost to Millbrook 73-67 in overtime on March 13, less than a week before the incident.

In 24 games, Brown averaged 11.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game and shot 65 percent from the field.

Brown has not dressed out for either of Blacksburg's two games this season.

Blacksburg coach Doug Day said Tuesday night the school would await the outcome of the case before determining Brown's future with the basketball program.

Staff writer Robert Anderson contributed to this report.