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SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) -- The U.S. attorney's office says 11 Upstate residents have pleaded guilty to mail fraud in a $1.8 million scheme.

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said in a news release that a widespread check fraud conspiracy was operated by 41-year-old Hope Mitchell and family members and other associates.

Others pleading guilty are Dorothy Mitchell, Martha Johnson, Robert Johnson, Melanie Jean Mitchell, Wendy Jeanette Rice, Richard Kenneth Lipscomb, Devek Jermaine Mitchell, Derrick Lashawn Sinclair, Wesley Germaine Hall and Lisa Nicole Stafford.

Nettles says the team recruited people to get fake IDs and use them to open checking accounts with minimal money. The recruits were taken shopping where checks were used to buy expensive items. The recruits were told to report their checkbooks stolen. The items were resold and the profits shared.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)