KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal grand jury has indicted four people on charges of conspiring to bleach $5 bills to create counterfeit 100-dollar bills that they used to purchase gift cards at Target stores in Kansas.

Court documents describe how federal investigators worked with Target security personnel who followed a cross-country trail that ended when the defendants were caught on surveillance cameras at Target stores in Johnson County.

Indicted are 50-year-old Simon McDaniel, of Atlanta, Ga., for one count of conspiracy, six counts of passing counterfeit currency, 26-year-old Yancey Robertson, of Augusta, Ga., for one count of conspiracy, and two counts of passing counterfeit currency.

Also charged are 27-year-old Kenya Harris, of Ypsilanti, Mich. For one count of conspiracy, and 19-year-old Pernecia Brown, of College Park, Ga. She charged with one count of conspiracy, and eight counts of passing counterfeit currency.

The complaint alleges that in June 2011 investigators for Target contacted the U.S. Secret Service regarding a group of individuals traveling the country passing counterfeit $100 bills at Target stores to buy gift cards or merchandise. Typically, the persons involved would purchase a $20 gift card and receive $80 in change.

Target’s surveillance cameras in the Kansas City metro area took pictures of counterfeit bills being passed at Target stores.

The indictment alleges that McDaniel, Robertson, Harris and Brown conspired from May 27, 2011, to September 7, 2011, to produce and pass counterfeit bills. It alleges counterfeit bills were passed on the following dates and at the following places

May 27, 2011, the Target store at 15345 West 119th Street, Olathe, Aug. 9, 2011, the Target store at 6100 Broadmoor Street, in Mission, Sept. 6, 2011 and the Target store at 10800 East 21st North, in Wichita.

Then on Sept. 7, 2011, they struck the Target stores at 15700 Shawnee Mission Parkway, in Shawnee, then the store at 15345 W. 119th Street, in Olathe, followed by the store at 20255 West 154th Street, in Olathe, then the store at 11501 West 97th Street, in Overland Park, and finally, the store at 12200 Blue Valley Parkway, also in Overland Park

Investigators learned the conspirators were “washing” genuine $5 bills and then reprinting them as $100 bills.

If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the conspiracy count, and a maximum penalty of 20-years and a fine up to $250,000 on each of the other counts.