WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A former Newtown man was sentenced on August 12 to spend more than eight years in federal prison on his conviction on bank fraud charges, involving a million-dollar scheme that bilked more than 30 businesses in eight states along the Eastern Seaboard, according to the US Attorney.

Shane Fusco, 39, formerly of Nelson Lane in Hawleyville, was sentenced to spend 100 months in prison by US District Judge Cathy Seibel, according to Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Fusco had previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of bank fraud.

Mr Bharara said in a statement, “In a scheme to steal upwards of a million dollars, Shane Fusco brazenly defrauded dozens of small businesses up and down the Eastern Seaboard by using fraudulent bank [checks] and personal checks.”

“We thank the FBI, the Secret Service, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Connecticut State Police, and our colleagues at the US Attorney’s Office in Connecticut for the work in this case,” Mr Bharara said.

“For almost two years, Fusco fraudulently created bank and personal checks in a scheme to obtain vehicle parts and jewelry, among other items, from 34 business and one individual,” according to a US Department of Justice spokesman.

“Fusco was eventually caught using a fake check in an attempt to buy tires while driving a stolen truck that was hitched to a stolen trailer,” the spokesman added.

Newtown police came into contact with Fusco on March 21, 2014, when they stopped him for traveling too fast on Old Hawleyville Road, near his residence in Hawleyville.

After investigating, police then held Fusco on extradition documents involving alleged felonies and also Fusco being a fugitive from justice in both Laconia, N.H., and Hackensack, N.J.