Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Miami County Prosecutor Gary Nasal have filed felony charges against 18 suspects accused of running a telemarketing fraud ring from Ohio and Florida.

Those involved have stolen millions of dollars from thousands of victims in 41 states since 2007, according to DeWine. Thirteen of the suspects have been taken into custody in Ohio, Florida, Indiana and New York. 

Those from out of state will be extradited to Ohio, according to DeWine's office.

“The state of Ohio will not tolerate those who defraud and steal,” he said. “If you commit fraud in Ohio or upon Ohioans, my office will work to have you prosecuted regardless of where you are.”

The suspects operated a criminal enterprise of at least three different companies that targeted victims nationwide who owned inexpensive, vacant land throughout the U.S., according to the indictment returned Tuesday. Dewine’s release states that landowners were fed a series of lies over the phone and led to believe their land was worth up to 15 times its assessed value.

The landowners were told that they had to pay fees of $500 to almost $16,000 to guarantee the sale of their land.    

Most of the victims are elderly and some of them originally bought the land when they returned home from war. Victims were allegedly told the suspects would sell their land to eager buyers at lavish dinner shows in Las Vegas and Reno, Nev., and St. Louis, Mo. Other victims were told that investors in a solar energy plant had already agreed to purchase their land for the inflated value but to finalize the sale they had to prepay the closing costs, according to the release.

The indictment alleges there were never any buyers, closings, or sales done in the lifetime of the companies. Videos on the suspects’ website show a number of the suspects talking to a supposed crowd of eager buyers at what is claimed to be a dinner show in Las Vegas.

But the video was actually filmed in a banquet room at the Brukner Nature Center in Troy, and the only attendees were employees and family members with no buyers present, the indictment states.

The enterprise was founded in Ohio in 2007 and operated from many locations including Troy, Huber Heights and Vandalia. Later, the operation opened branches in the Tampa, Fla., area.  

Suspects were indicted on charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activities, conspiracy, aggravated theft of $1.5 million or more, telecommunications fraud, money laundering and telemarketing fraud.

If convicted, the ringleaders face charges that can carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of 37-and-a-half years in prison.