BURLINGTON – A Florida man has been sentenced to serve a little more than three years in prison for his role in an international “grandparent scam” that defrauded older Americans, including those in Vermont, out of millions of dollars.

The case provides an inside look at what prosecutors termed a highly sophisticated scheme that involved dozens of people posing in various and specific roles to carry it out, from fake bail bondsmen to phony attorneys.

“This is one of the most extraordinarily serious fraud schemes that I’ve seen in my years on the bench,” federal Judge William K. Sessions III, said Thursday in ordering a 37-month prison term for Dave Leblanc during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Burlington. Sessions has served as a federal judge since 1995.

Leblanc, 28, of Greenacres

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