Mark Capasso Jr. was sentenced to a year in prison this week for setting a sheet on fire inside his parents' Waterford home in September 2017 and reporting to police that an intruder had entered the home.

A jury in New London Superior Court found Capasso, 34, guilty in January of reckless burning, a felony, and second-degree false reporting of an incident, a misdemeanor.

Capasso had admitted on the witness stand that he set fire to the sheet and poured Sterno fire-starter gel on the floor and furniture, then reported there had been an intruder. He said he was trying to bring attention to his claim that his ex-wife kidnapped their daughter with the assistance of Chinese authorities. He has self-published a book about it, titled "Chasing Chaya."

Capasso had been working as an English teacher in China, according to testimony. He was staying at his parents' home at 145 Bloomingdale Road in Quaker Hill with his current wife and their two young children, who also were born in China, when the crimes occurred. He said Chinese officials also were giving him a hard time about the citizenship of his two younger children.

First responders had testified at the trial that they had been dispatched to a reported home invasion when they went to the home at 2 a.m.

In addition to the one-year prison term, Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed imposed three years of probation and a $3,500 fine.

k.florin@theday.com