Federal authorities have now sent to prison all four Minnesotans who at one point needed a U-Haul truck to transport the goods they purchased through an identity-theft scheme that netted the veteran criminals as much as $120,000.

Malinda A. Shaw, 26, of Fergus Falls, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in St. Paul to two years in prison on numerous counts of bank fraud and identity theft.

Also pleading guilty were Christopher Englin, 29, of Detroit Lakes, sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison; Nadean Hope Rans, 36, of Shakopee, sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, and Melissa Mae Oquin, 33, of Minneapolis, sentenced to one year and nine months in prison. They also were ordered collectively to pay nearly $18,000 in restitution.

State records show previous convictions for Oquin for forgery, mail theft, swindling and credit card fraud; Rans for forgery, theft and arson; Shaw for theft, and Englin for forgery.

According to their plea agreements:

From September 2007 through April 2008, the four plotted to steal mail from 10 to 50 people and use that information to make identification cards and checks. The documents were used to steal cash from banks and other businesses in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Overall, the operation cost the victims between $70,000 and $120,000, according to investigators.

PAUL WALSH