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A prolific thief who authorities say stole mail from at least 1,000 victims in Utah was sentenced Tuesday to about 4 1/2 years in federal prison for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Kevin Russell Humphreys also must pay about $28,000 in restitution under the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell. In addition, he will be on five years of supervised release after he completes his 55-month prison term.

Humphreys was arrested in November 2015 in Midvale as he was trying to cash an allegedly forged check. A search of his home turned up numerous pieces of mail from residents in cities throughout Salt Lake County, authorities said.

A federal grand jury indicted Humphreys last year on 31 charges stemming from alleged forgery and identity theft crime sprees in 2013 and 2015.

The indictment alleged that since at least February 2013, the 36-year-old West Valley City man had been defrauding financial institutions by cashing stolen and forged checks and using other people's identifying information to obtain credit. The checks and identifications typically were obtained through mail theft, according to the indictment.

As part of an agreement with federal prosecutors, Humphreys pleaded guilty in February to two counts each of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft and the other charges were dropped.

Humphreys has a long criminal history that includes theft, forgery and drug charges and has been in and out of prison since 2003, according to court records. Defense attorney Alexander Ramos said Tuesday that the crimes were fueled by drug addiction.

Humphreys currently is incarcerated at the Utah State Prison for violating probation in a state identity theft case. He will serve the first part of his federal sentence concurrently with the remainder of his state sentence, which is scheduled to end September 2018.

Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC