An 80-year-old Hilo woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Monday to conspiring with her daughter, granddaughter and others to fraudulently obtain powerful painkillers and other prescription drugs that the government says the women sold to drive-up customers at their house.

A federal grand jury indictment charges Marie Benevides with one count of conspiracy to obtain controlled substances and two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances. The conspiracy to obtain charge is punishable by up to four years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Benevides pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to obtain charge in a deal in which federal prosecutors promise to recommend probation at her sentencing in September. The government also promises to drop the other two charges.

Benevides; her daughter, Yvonne Caitano; granddaughter, Sheena Strong; and another woman, Theresa Saltus, all worked as office assistants for Dr. Ernest Bade at Bade’s medical clinic in Hilo, though only Caitano got paid. All of the women were also Bade’s patients. All five are charged with the same crimes in the same indictment.

The government says Bade wrote prescriptions to patients he didn’t even see or examine. The Drug Enforcement Administration says Benevides, Caitano, Strong and Saltus obtained prescriptions from Bade for large quantities of painkillers including oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl and morphine and prescription steroids, muscle relaxers and sedatives.

The women traveled to Maui to fill their prescriptions after pharmacies in Hilo, suspicious of the prescriptions, stopped filling them. The government says Caitano and Benevides had a 14-year-old girl collect money from customers in their cars outside Caitano’s home and deliver them their drugs, and that Strong went after the customers if they didn’t pay enough.

Caitano, Strong and Saltus are scheduled to stand trial in October. Bade is awaiting examination to determine whether or not he is mentally competent to stand trial.