Kansas City, Mo. ? The deal seemed too good to be true.

A wealthy New York man’s estate was offering vehicles at discounted rates to reward people for their religious faith. People from across the county jumped at the deal, paying about $16 million for the vehicles that didn’t exist.

Now three people from out of state have been indicted in what U.S. Atty. Todd Graves called the “Miracle Cars Scheme.”

James R. Nichols, 26, of Carson, Calif., Robert Gomez, 27, of Bell, Calif., and Gwendolyn Baker, 51, of Memphis, Tenn., were charged in a 23-count indictment that was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on May 8.

The indictment was unsealed Monday after Gomez was arrested and appeared in court. Arrest warrants have been issued for Nichols and Baker.

A national telephone hot line has been established to assist victims.

The indictment alleges that the defendants sold more than 7,000 non-existent automobiles and motor vehicles from Oct. 1, 1998 until the date of the indictment. Missouri victims allegedly spent about $1.3 million to purchase 603 vehicles that didn’t exist.

The defendants allegedly claimed they represented the estate of John Bowers, purported to be the owner of the engineering division of Mission Foods of Irvine, Tex. The three defendants allegedly told victims Bowers wanted to reward people of religious faith with bargain vehicles.

Gomez, a professional gambler, allegedly claimed to be the adopted son of John Bowers and sole heir to the estate, while Nichols allegedly claimed to be the executor of the estate.

Baker, who often referred to Nichols and Gomez as her godsons, allegedly distributed lists of automobiles and other vehicles to individuals, churches, religious groups and other organizations, offering the “miracle cars” for sale.

Baker is accused of recruiting people to help her make contacts to solicit purchasers of vehicles. Some of the recruits charged buyers commissions for arranging the sales.

The defendants allegedly transferred some of the proceeds from the scheme into gambling chips to make tracing more difficult.

When purchasers grew impatient, the defendants used funds from the ongoing scheme to pay refunds. Of the $16 million obtained from buyers, the defendants allegedly used about $6 million to pay refunds.

A forfeiture count in the federal indictment would require the defendants to forfeit all the proceeds.

The indictment also alleges that the defendants failed to report profits from the scheme to the Internal Revenue Service.

The federal indictment includes 13 counts alleging that on separate occasions between Dec. 27, 1999, and May 31, 2001, the defendants transferred some of the proceeds from the scheme in interstate commerce between Missouri and either Tennessee or California.

Six separate counts of the indictment allege specific instances of alleged money laundering.