ST. LOUIS (AP) — A southeast Missouri man has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison for fraudulently claiming to be an attorney.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 51-year-old James Michael Arnold, of Sikeston, was sentenced Thursday for charges that included aggravated identity theft and mail fraud.

Court documents say he graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1992 but never passed the state bar examination. He has never been licensed to practice law in Missouri or elsewhere.

But from January 2010 to January 2014, he claimed to be a licensed attorney to gain employment. Court documents say he used the name and Missouri Bar number of a licensed attorney to apply for jobs as an attorney and file court documents.