Posted at 9:54 a.m., Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Guilty pleas entered in identity theft case
Associated Press
HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island woman has pleaded guilty in a case prosecutors believe is the largest welfare fraud committed in the state by someone using a false identity.Victoria Donnelly-Korondi, 54, obtained more than $308,000 in welfare benefits and housing assistance from 1988 until earlier this year after adopting the identity of Karen Johnston, who was killed in a 1977 car crash in Idaho, officials said yesterday.
Donnelly-Korondi, who is also known as Gabriella Victoria Donnelly, faces up to 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fine when she is sentenced Jan. 31 for first-degree theft and second-degree identity theft. She entered guilty pleas to the charges Monday.
Hawai'i County Prosecutor Jay Kimura said Donnelly-Korondi is a Swiss citizen who was educated in Australia and probably entered the United States illegally from Canada in the early 1980s.
