TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka businessman was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison for writing more than 5,000 bad checks in a check kiting scheme.

Forty-nine-year-old John Charles Humpage III also was ordered Monday to pay more than $538,000 in restitution.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said in a news release that Humpage pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud. He admitted that in 2008 he defrauded the Educational Credit Union, Kaw Valley State Bank and Alliance Bank while doing business under several names.

He exchanged and cross-deposited more than 5,000 insufficient checks between two or more of his bank accounts, creating more than $78 million in aggregate deposit amounts. Those deposits falsely inflated his bank account balances by more than $600,000.