TAMPA, Fla. \- A Sanford man has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for his role in a sophisticated scheme that defrauded senior citizens out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Viraj Patel, 29, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He acted as a “money mule” for a group of scammers who impersonated government officials and representatives of financial institutions. The scammers, often operating from India, would call elderly victims in the U.S. and claim their identities had been compromised. They would then demand payment to resolve the issue, often ins…