Lawyer Sentenced in False I.D. Case

A San Fernando Valley lawyer convicted of using false identification to obtain more than $600,000 in loans has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella said.

Ione Young Gray, a 49-year-old West Hills resident who hosted television and radio shows offering advice on purchasing foreclosed homes for profit, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge William D. Keller.

Gray was convicted in January in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on two counts of using a false Social Security number. The maximum penalty per count was five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In handing down the sentence, Keller also determined that Gray obstructed justice by continuing to claim she was entitled to use the false identity, Manella said. Keller also found that Gray had obtained numerous credit cards under several false identities.

Prosecutors said investigations by the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI revealed that Gray had used an assumed identity--”I.G. Williams”--for eight years, claiming to be the wife of a man who formerly owned her house.

Gray used the false name, a fake Social Security number and misrepresented her income on two applications to refinance her home mortgage with two Woodland Hills branches of World Savings and Loan, prosecutors said.

Several witnesses testified in court that Gray taught real estate seminars for years throughout Southern California under the false name, Manella said.