HILO, Hawai'i — A Hilo woman pleaded guilty this week to felony charges in a 22-year identity theft that investigators are calling the largest welfare fraud case in Big Island history.

Authorities say Victoria Donnelly-Korondi, 54, assumed the identity of a woman who was killed in a one-car crash in Idaho in 1977, and collected more than $308,000 in welfare benefits in Hawai'i under the fake name from June 1988 to May of this year.

Donnelly-Korondi, also known as Gabriella Donnelly and Gabriella Victoria, assumed the identity of Karen L. Johnston in the early 1980s, according to court records. The real Johnston was 23 years old when she died in a one-car crash in Burgdorff, Idaho, on Aug. 22, 1977.

People who knew Johnston told investigators that Donnelly-Korondi looked somewhat similar to Johnston, but it is unclear how the imposter selected Johnston and assumed her identity.

A state Department of Human Services investigation report on file in Hilo Circuit Court shows federal and state authorities followed leads in Hawai'i, Utah, Idaho and Arizona in their effort to learn Donnelly-Korondi's true identity, but a Hilo detective acknowledged months after her May 17 arrest that authorities still weren't certain who she really was.

Even Donnelly-Korondi claim-ed to be somewhat confused. Court records show she told one interviewer earlier this year that she wasn't sure whether she was born in 1951 or 1954, and added, "I have two places of birth, Switzerland and Nevada. I'm not sure which one is which, I have been Karen for so long."

Department of Human Services special investigators Jennifer Devon and Wayne Ayudan finally learned Donnelly-Korondi is a Swiss national who was educated in Australia. Authorities suspect she entered the U.S. illegally from Canada in the early 1980s, according to Big Island Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville.

Donnelly-Korondi told investigators she moved to the Big Island in 1983, moved on to Kaua'i in 1991, and then returned to the Big Island in 2001.

Police reports indicate Donnelly-Korondi first began collecting welfare benefits under Johnston's name in 1983. She embraced her assumed identity so completely that she passed it on to her son, who was born in 1984 and carried the last name of Johnston as well, according to court records.

Courts officials checked for criminal convictions but found not even a traffic violation until Donnelly-Korondi was arrested in the Hilo office of the state Department of Human Services.

Using the assumed identity, Donnelly-Korondi was able to collect food stamps, welfare payments, medical assistance and Section 8 housing assistance for low-income families.

The fraud apparently was not making her rich, however: Her most recent benefits included $418 in cash and $212 in food stamps, according to court records.

On at least one occasion, Hawai'i officials became suspicious of Donnelly-Korondi. In 1995, she applied for a Kaua'i driver's license under Johnston's name, but Kaua'i officials withheld the card because their checks showed the real Karen Johnston had died years before, according to court records.

Donnelly-Korondi used Johnston's name to apply for Social Security benefits in April 2005, the month before she was arrested, according to court records.

Donnelly-Korondi has been in jail since her May arrest, and finally pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree theft and second-degree identity theft, charges that are each punishable by 10-year prison terms.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed that any prison sentences for the two charges would run concurrently rather than consecutively.

Donnelly-Korondi is also seeking a deferred acceptance of the guilty plea that would allow her to ask the court to clear her record later if she abides by conditions similar to probation.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 31 before Judge Glenn Hara. In the meantime, Donnelly-Korondi is being held at the Hawai'i Community Correctional Center in lieu of $75,000 bail.

Eric Weyenberg, chief investigator for the state Department of Human Services, said Donnelly-Korondi's case is the largest welfare fraud in Big Island history, and the second-largest in state history.

In the largest welfare fraud case in Hawai'i, Peninatautele Fiamate, a Palolo woman, was convicted of defrauding the state of $342,300 from 1990 to 1999. Fiamate was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.