AUGUSTA – Three youths were handed two-week jail terms and ordered to perform community service for stealing 50 American flags from the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery and dumping them in Cobbosseecontee Stream in Gardiner.

The sentence was part of a plea agreement crafted by Maine veterans, who said their primary aim was not to punish the youths but to make them aware of the gravity of what they had done.

Nicholas Ashby, 18, of South China, Joshua Luce, 18, of Augusta and Jennifer Breton, 18, of Augusta were charged with theft and aggravated criminal mischief. They entered guilty pleas Wednesday in District Court to theft and criminal mischief.

A fourth defendant, a male juvenile, also was charged in the case, which spurred shock and outrage throughout the community.

The 4-by-8-foot flags, which had draped the coffins of veterans buried at the cemetery, were stolen last June and later found floating in Cobbosseecontee Stream.

“It was just a prank, and everyone thought it was supposed to be something against the flag,” Breton said outside the court. “It was nothing like that.”

In addition to the jail terms, Breton, Luce and Ashby must pay $2,500 fines and perform 375 hours of community service under the supervision of veterans groups.

Aggravated criminal mischief is punishable by up to five years in prison. Some of the community service will be spent at the cemetery, folding and caring for the flags that were vandalized. All but two of the flags were recovered, cleaned and returned to the cemetery.

Veterans who worked with the District Attorney’s Office in molding the sentence said their principal goal was to change the way the youngsters thought about the flags and the hallowed ground where many of the state’s veterans are buried.

“The great concern that I have is the lack of understanding for the gravity of what this place means and what those flags represent,” said Roland Lapointe of Maine Veterans Services. “When this was brought before the state’s veterans community, that concerned them more than the act itself.”

As part of the community service requirement, the youths must read a book about the Marines who raised the flag at Iwo Jima during World War II and then make a presentation to a veterans group about the book.