A former Torrington resident was recently sentenced to prison for his role in a stolen identity tax refund scheme.

Mario Pascual Aquino was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

According to court documents and statements, Aquino was involved in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain U.S. Treasury tax refund checks made payable to individuals other than themselves, whose personal identifying information was stolen by co-conspirators. Typically, the individuals whose identities were stolen were citizens of Puerto Rico.

Aquino cashed approximately $650,000 worth of fraudulently-obtained tax refund checks at a check cashing store in Torrington between October 2011 and March 2013. He also opened his own check cashing store in Hartford, Mega Money Transfers, and cashed more than 300 fraudulently-obtained refund checks valued at a total of $750,926 through that store in 2011 and 2012. Aquino sold six fraudulently-obtained refund checks valued at a total of $60,929 to an undercover agent. He also provided the undercover agent with a fraudulent Connecticut driver license in the name of an identity theft individual.

Aquino was ordered to pay $532,500 in restitution.

Aquino, who most recently resided in Pasadena, Texas, has been detained since his arrest on May 31, 2016. He pleaded guilty to one count of theft of public money on Jan. 5, 2017.