A former Bata Shoe Co. purchasing agent was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to five months confinement for his role in a kickback scheme related to a $4.8 million military contract.

Alvin Grieninger, 58, of Havre de Grace, also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $3,700 in restitution by Judge Marvin J. Garbis.

The sentence includes one month in prison, two months in a work-release community center and two months in home confinement. Grieninger also must complete two years of supervised probation.

Grieningerpleaded guilty in January to a charge of soliciting and accepting kickbacks under the federal Anti-Kickback Law.

Grieninger was accused of soliciting more than $37,000 in kickbacks from suppliers while he worked as the purchasing agent for the Belcamp shoe manufacturer between 1985 and 1989.

About $11,000 of the money was paid in connection to a U.S. Department of Defense contract for cold-weather boots,according to the DOD's Office of the Inspector General.

Grieninger also received $2,800 in kickback payments made by agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service working undercover during the investigation.

Two Bata suppliers, Bell Container Corp. of Newark, N.J., and Kurt Faulhammer, owner of K&R; Knitting Inc. of Wilbraham, Mass., also pleaded guilty to one count each of paying kickbacks in January.

Faulhammer was sentenced to one month in prison. Bell Container was fined $100,200.

Another former Bata purchasing agent, Zdenek Formanek of Aberdeen, also was charged with one kickback count, buthe died in February.