GREAT FALLS - A former postmaster has been placed on probation for two years for stealing prescription pain medication from packages mailed to veterans in Zortman, a town just south of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

Lary Sudchild Vongsavanh, 35, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon in Great Falls after pleading guilty to theft of mail and contents by a postal employee.

Prosecutors say Vongsavanh was hired as a relief postmaster in Zortman in the fall of 2007. In August 2008, a woman complained that she believed Vongsavanh was stealing prescription morphine from packages mailed from the VA Medical Center at Fort Harrison to her husband and another veteran.

Prosecutors say Vongsavanh tampered with a test package sent to the Zortman post office and admitted that he had opened other packages looking for prescription pain medications.

Vongsavanh has addresses in Cotati, Calif., and Lander, Wyo.