VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- Two men will each spend 30 days in jail for wearing clown masks in a Virginia Beach theater and scaring patrons.

Blake Newton and Jamar K. Washington had each pleaded guilty in March to the felony charge of wearing a mask in public.

Media outlets report that the charges were reduced Tuesday to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Each 20-year-old Norfolk man was sentenced to six months in jail with five months suspended.

Prosecutors say Newton and Washington caused a panic when they walked into the Regal Columbus theater on Oct. 8, 2012, wearing clown masks.

The incident occurred just months after a gunman killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a theater in Colorado.

Washington told police the men weren't aware of the Colorado shootings.