CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A sixth Canadian indicted in a plot to defraud widows and widowers in the United States in an international telemarketing scheme has been sentenced to federal prison.

Guy Desjardins of Montreal was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to one year in prison and three years’ probation after he finishes his term.

Desjardins was among 14 Canadians indicted in 2002 after an FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation revealed the group defrauded about 80 victims by telling them they had won large lottery prizes but had to prepay Canadian taxes and fees to get the cash, U.S. Attorney Tom Colantuono said.

While others in the scheme received longer prison terms, Colantuono said that Desjardins’ “heavy accent prevented him from being a pitcher,’ that is a salesman in the scheme. As a result he filled the role of a maintenance man who, among other things, removed the trash from the boiler rooms used by the conspirators.”

Colantuono earlier said the Canadians operated from Montreal and Vancouver, British Columbia, telling the victims to send $10,000 cashiers checks to various Montreal addresses to get their $200,000 prizes. Once the checks arrived, the victims were telephone again and told their winnings had increased to $2 million and they had to send an extra $20,000 to get the higher prizes.

The cashiers checks, Colantuono said, were exchanged for Canadian dollars and were laundered through Israeli and Jordanian Banks.

Colantuono said that in a parallel civil forfeiture action, his office seized $4.5 million from the accounts of several Middle Eastern banks under the Patriot Act.