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A Poolesville man is one of nine people from Maryland and Virginia charged in connection with a passport fraud scheme.

Hector E. Lemus-Moscoso, 35, originally from Guatemala, was indicted on charges of making a false statement on a passport application, making a false claim of U.S. citizenship and using a fraudulent Social Security number by a federal grand jury in Baltimore on June 22, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. He is being detained while awaiting trial, according to the statement, and faces a maximum penalty of 18 years in prison.

Lemus-Moscoso's attorney did not return a call for comment.

Prosecutors say Jose Oscar Melendez, 40, of Middle River, was the mastermind of a scheme to supply illegal immigrants with fraudulent identification documents and Social Security numbers, according to the statement. He was arrested Thursday and is being detained while awaiting a hearing on Thursday. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

In exchange for cash, Melendez provided Lemus-Moscoso and others with fraudulent Social Security cards and birth certificates purporting to be from Rochester, N.Y., according to the statement. Melendez also helped fill out passport applications and file the paperwork at post offices in Essex and Alexandria, Va.

Lemus-Moscoso paid $2,000 for the fraudulent documents, though others were charged as much as $6,000, according to the documents. The seven-month investigation began in December.

Also charged with making a false statement on a passport application, making a false claim of U.S. citizenship and using a fraudulent Social Security number in federal courts in Maryland and Virginia were Bolivian native Ruben Santiago Corrales-Prado, aka "Santiago Prado-Fernandez" and "Santiago Ruben Corrales," 32, of Falls Church, Va.; Nicaraguan native Bayardo A. Garcia-Blanco, 48, of Alexandria, Va.; Bolivian native Isabel Ortuste, 33, of Baltimore; Argentine natives Felix Ferrufino, 54, and his son Victor Simon Ferrufino, 27, both of Woodbridge, Va.; and Bolivian native Abel Marcos Corrales Prado, 25, of Falls Church, Va., according to the statement. All are illegal immigrants, according to the statement, and are being detained while awaiting trial.

An eighth person was charged but the indictment has not been made public because the person is still at large, the documents state.