FLORENCE, Italy, April 3 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Florence, Italy, accuse a Roman Catholic priest in the city of committing fraud by collecting $6 million through staging phony exorcisms.

The Rev. Francesco Saverio Bazzoffi is alleged to have used an organization he founded, the House of the Sainted Archangels, to collect donations from spectators at public exorcisms he performed at his organization's headquarters, The Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported.

Prosecutors said associates of Bazzoffi would "pretend to be possessed by demons" and the priest would use ancient and obscure rites to perform fake exorcisms on them. The events regularly drew crowds in excess of 400 people.

"During mass, the priest spoke in Aramaic, and strange things happened," a witness told police. "I do not know if it was group hysteria or our suggestibility but I remember one old woman screaming in a man's voice while five big guys held her down."

Several documents were seized from Bazzoffi's residence last month that allegedly suggested he has more than $6 million in his bank account, The Telegraph said. Prosecutors said 13 associates of the priest are also under investigation.