A Baltimore County man will spend more than two years in federal prison after his sentencing this week for participating in a bank fraud scheme that netted more than $1.5 million from victims across the country.

Theodore Sapperstein, 67, formerly of Pikesville, received 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release Thursday at his sentencing before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow.

Federal prosecutors charged that Sapperstein and co-conspirators participated in a scheme to illegally debit money from the bank accounts of victims across the United States by creating shell companies and falsely representing to banks that the charges were legitimate payments for services provided by the shell companies.

The conspirators knew that a high rate of returned, or rejected, debits would trigger scrutiny from banks, so Sapperstein generated “micro debits” against other bank accounts connected to the scheme in order to falsely lower the rate of rejected charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Sapperstein helped facilitate the micro debits and secured a payment processor that facilitated the unauthorized charges, the office said.

“My office is committed to ferreting out and punishing the predatory conduct of white-collar fraudsters who utilize, and often hide behind, shell companies and phony accounting and bookkeeping practices to steal money from unsuspecting victims,” U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron said in a statement.

Sapperstein was charged in federal court in March and pleaded guilty soon after to a count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office asked for a sentence of 41 months, or nearly three and a half years, court records show.

“Mr. Sapperstein is very glad to get this behind him,” said Sapperstein’s lawyer, David B Irwin. “Everyone acknowledged that his conduct in this matter was totally atypical. The judge called him a ‘good guy’ who got caught up in this operation. He is very remorseful about it.”

In July, another man was charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud for his alleged role in the scheme. Shoaib Ahmad, of Canada, faces the charges in the Central District of California, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.