Kansas City, Mo. ? A federal grand jury has indicted 17 people for allegedly using the identities of Kansas City-area nursing home residents to file bogus tax returns across the country.

They allegedly sought $13.1 million in refunds.

In an indictment returned Wednesday and unsealed Thursday, prosecutors charge the defendants with stealing the personal information of about 300 individuals and using it to file at least 365 fraudulent federal tax returns since February 2005.

U.S. Attorney John Wood told reporters the conspirators also filed fraudulent tax returns in 27 states.

Wood said some of the refunds paid to the defendants were cashed and transferred to the African nation of Kenya, where 12 were either born or held citizenship.

“We’re seeing identity thieves using more complex and sophisticated methods to commit their crimes than ever before,” Wood said.

The indictment names as defendants Loretta Wavinya, 30; Ervin Somba, 26; Edwin Nyumu Sila, 25; Lillian Nzongi, 26; Moses Ndubai, 33; Bernard Nyemba, 39; Jeanette Alexander, 38; Michael Anderson, 46; Rashira Lewis, 20; and Parker S. Willingham, 23, all of Kansas City; Vincent Niagwara Ogega, 23, of Independence; Aaron Mutavi, 28, of Overland Park; Kenneth Njagi, 31, of Lenexa; Mary Githia, 25, of San Francisco; Ernest Kangara, 40, of Santa Rosa, Calif.; Paul Kilungya Nyumu, 41, address unknown; and Karingithi Kamau, age and address unknown.

Prosecutors said 10 of the defendants are in custody and being held pending a hearing, three are believed to be living in Kenya and four are unaccounted for. Wood said his office is working with officials in Kenya to try to find the defendants there.

According to the indictment, Wavinya and seven other defendants worked in Kansas City-area nursing homes and hospitals and had access to patient information.

The indictment claims Wavinya, who worked as a tax preparer at H&R Block Inc. in late 2002 and early 2003, and others prepared and filed false tax returns under the victims’ names, listing jobs and income the victims had never had and claiming thousands of dollars in tax refunds. The returns were filed electronically, sometimes using public Internet portals, such as those in coffee shops, or by piggybacking on someone else’s wireless Internet signal.