CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man has been sentenced for participation in a phone call scam that victimized more than 250 elderly people across the country. Court records say 27-year-old Cody Richey, of Zwingle, Tuesday was given 57 months in federal prison and told to pay more than $26,000 in restitution. He’d pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to wire fraud.

Prosecutors say the scheme consisted of phone calls to elderly people across the country, telling victims that relatives were jailed and that money should be wired to free them. Several other people involved in running the scam already have been sentenced.