MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Six people were arraigned Wednesday for their involvement in an identity theft ring.

The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama says members of the identity theft ring conspired to fraudulently obtain credit cards by diverting mail to a phony mailbox at a Montgomery post office.

A postal worker diverted mail, which included credit cards, to the dubious mail box and the suspects ran credit reports on victims before opening accounts in their names.

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Officials say about $600,000 total was stolen from innocent victims.

The six who were arrested are from Alabama and Georgia, and are charged with identity theft, wire fraud and bank fraud.

They may be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison and may have to pay a fine of up to $1 million.

Two men associated with the Armenian Power gang were each sentenced to 25 years in federal prison Wednesday on charges of perpetrating a sophisticated identity theft ring from lockup, according to the United States attorney’s office.

Angus Brown, 36, whose nickname is “Homicide,” and Arman Sharopetrosian, 33, known as “Horse,” were two of the 20 defendants named in an indictment last year related to an identify theft scheme that looted at least $8 million, authorities said.

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Under the scheme, which involved the Armenian Power gang working in concert with other street gangs, bank insiders were bribed to steal personal information from mostly elderly victims whose signatures were forged, with big checks deposited into phony accounts, authorities said.

Brown and Sharopetrosian had been convicted of running the identity theft ring from Avenal State Prison in the Central Valley.

Brown had already been serving time at the prison for identity theft, authorities said, while Sharopetrosian had been serving time for shooting at an occupied vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon.

Prosecutors said the fraud ring picked elderly victims because they were less likely to keep watch of their accounts by the Internet.

All 20 defendants were convicted and most are expected to be sentenced in the coming months, authorities said.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade viewers were surprised to find shredded police report information with addition to the normal parade confetti.

An investigation by Jay Foley of ID Theft Info Source on Nov. 26 resulted in the discovery that the records that landed on spectators at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade were brought to the parade by a Nassau County Police Academy department employee. The employee has not been named by investigators.

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Confetti collected by spectators near 65th Street and Central Park West revealed arrest records, incident reports and personal information and that identified undercover officers. There was also information of Mitt Romney’s motorcade route to and from the final presidential debate at Hofstra University.

“There were phone numbers, addresses, Social Security number, bank account number and license plate numbers,” said Ethan Finkelstein of Manhattan who gathered up some of the confetti with friends. “And then we find all these incident reports from police.” The papers were shredded horizontally, not vertically, leaving text visible.

Nassau County Police are considering upgrading to cross cut shredders for future use. Paper documents can easily be used to commit identity theft, even more easily than computer documents.

This is not the first incident of inappropriate papers tossed from offices during a “ticker tape” parade. On Nov. 7, 2009, New York City office workers got carried away during the Yankees victory parade and began tossing files and documents out the window when they couldn’t get their hands on confetti.

An auditor found all sorts of personal financial documents in the mountains of shredded paper tossed from skyscrapers as the players rode up Broadway. Papers included pay stubs, personal financial information, trust fund balance sheets, banking data and even court files.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Florida woman formerly from the St. Louis area is accused of being the ringleader in an identity theft ring that tried to cheat the government out of nearly $1.5 million.

Federal prosecutors in St. Louis charged 27-year-old Tania Henderson of Wesley Chapel, Fla., on Tuesday, the same day that a search warrant was executed at her home. Authorities say they found cash, debit cards and personal identification information of several people.

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The criminal complaint alleges that 191 fraudulent tax returns in the names of identity theft victims — both living and dead — were filed from a computer in Henderson’s home. The refunds, including some already paid, amounted to nearly $1.5 million.

Prosecutors say Henderson used a network of accomplices and would share proceeds with them.