A woman pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to counterfeiting and money laundering charges in a scheme that victimized stores in the Mechanicsville and Tidewater areas.

According to court documents, Tiffany Hamilton, 21, of Oakley, in Essex County on the Middle Peninsula, admitted she and some co-conspirators traveled to Virginia from California last year. Once here, they purchased expensive goods using counterfeit money.

They would then return the merchandise to different branches of the same store and get refunds in legitimate money.

In one case, they bought a Sony PlayStation 3 game system and a Microsoft Zune MP3 player from a Target store in Chesapeake using 10 counterfeit $100 bills. The next day the same items were returned to a Target store in Virginia Beach and exchanged for real money.

Similar transactions occurred in Mechanicsville and Norfolk. The Hanover County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Secret Service were among the law-enforcement agencies that investigated the crimes.

Hamilton faces up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne on July 25.

-- Frank Green