Man pleads guilty to ID theft in scholarship scam

A former University of Hawaii Foundation employee pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to identity theft after acknowledging that he diverted scholarship money to pay off a gambling debt.

Dodge Watson, 34, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Sept. 15.

According to Watson’s attorney Eric Seitz, Watson diverted $2,000 from an existing UH scholarship to a bookie to whom he owed money. The unauthorized transaction occurred in December 2012, while Watson was working as a scholarship administrator for the private, nonprofit corporation that serves as the central fundraising organization for the UH system.

Watson, who worked for the UH Foundation for eight years, will repay the foundation once the proper mechanism for repayment has been identified, Seitz said.

Seitz said Watson incurred the debt through sports gambling.

"He did what many here in Hawaii do, and he won’t do it again," Seitz said.

Seitz added that Watson’s criminal act exposed a vulnerability in the foundation’s practices that has since been addressed.

"It was a one-time incident and he is sorry," Seitz said. "This has been extremely embarrassing for him and his family."

In 2010 Watson’s father and his four siblings worked with the foundation to establish the Jackie and Walter O. Watson Jr. Memorial Scholarship Endowment, in honor of the father’s parents, to provide scholarships to eligible UH football players.