A 55-year-old Minneapolis man has been sentenced for participating in a long-running identity theft scheme with his wife, a nursing assistant, to steal more than $120,000 from vulnerable adults under her care.

Ronald B. Shaka was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis to three years in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud and identity theft.

Shaka's wife, Sherita Scott-Kelley, 31, was sentenced in September to three years and nine months in prison. She admitted to aiding and abetting bank fraud, and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.

According to Shaka's plea agreement and other court documents in the case:

Shaka used some of the ill-gotten money to buy a Cadillac. Also, authorities seized other items suspected as being purchased with the stolen money, including a gold bar and a designer watch.

His criminal history includes 16 felony convictions for such offenses as forgery, shoplifting, weapons possession and assault.

In her plea agreement, Scott-Kelley admitted that from April 2006 to November 2008 she accessed personal identification and financial information of victims under her care. Specifically, Scott-Kelley cashed checks drawn on the victims' accounts and used unauthorized credit cards in the victims' names in order to obtain cash and other items.

Some of the victims lived at the Oak Grove Care Center on Park Avenue S. in Minneapolis, where Scott-Kelley worked.

PAUL WALSH