San Diego

Saying “I wouldn’t trust him to feed my parking meter,” a municipal judge Wednesday sentenced a man who pretended to be a lawyer to five years, four months in prison.

Several elderly victims testified that they had paid large fees to retain Steven Curt Dony, 30, to represent them in lawsuits, only to later learn that he was not a lawyer.

Dony, 30, was arrested six weeks ago in San Diego and pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft and one of filling out a false credit application.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Cliff Dobrin told the court that the losses to the known victims in San Diego total $75,000.

Judge Frank Brown imposed the maximum restitution order, $10,000, to be paid by Dony from his prison earnings and after he is paroled.

“He’s a con artist and very predatory,” said the judge.

Dony used the name of Phoenix attorney Curtis Ullman, who is licensed to practice law in California but has no office in San Diego. The men do not know each other.