MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors have charged six Memphis-area residents with using identities stolen from police documents to claim more than $444,000 in false tax refunds.

The U.S. attorney's office for West Tennessee said Thursday that the six were indicted in December 2011. Most of them made their initial court appearance this week.

Prosecutors say 37-year-old Aundria Bryant-Branch took identification information from a stolen Memphis Police Department book listing people with outstanding arrest warrants.

Bryant-Branch is accused of giving the information to two other women, who allegedly used it to file false tax returns to the IRS.

Prosecutors say the ring opened bank accounts and deposited more than $444,000 from the refunds and refund anticipation loans generated by the false returns.

Online court records do not show whether Bryant-Branch has a lawyer.