(06-09) 10:31 PDT PALO ALTO --

An Oakland woman has pleaded guilty for her role in an identity theft ring that targeted Veterans Administration and hospital employees and used the victims' credit cards to go shopping.

Rachelle Williams entered a guilty plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose to three felony counts of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Williams, her ex-husband Thurman Douglas Smith and Smith's friend, Vessie Lynn Stevens, were indicted by a federal grand jury in March.

As a veteran, Smith allegedly parlayed his access to VA facilities into a crime spree, stealing wallets and purses of female employees at the VA's hospital in Palo Alto four times between March 2009 and January 2010, according to the indictment.

The defendants used stolen credit cards at Target, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less and Sears stores along the Peninsula, the indictment said.

Investigators also believe the defendants are linked to the theft of wallets and credit cards belonging to employees at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto and UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, authorities said.

Charges against Smith and Stevens are pending.