State worker gets 6 months over gambling

A U.S. district judge Friday sentenced a former member of the Kauai Police Commission to six months in prison for running an illegal sports gambling business and filing a false tax return.

Bradley Chiba, 37, was also sentenced by District Judge Leslie Kobayashi to serve six months of home detention and wear a monitoring device following his jail term. His sentence included three years of supervised release, a $3,000 fine and 50 hours of community service.

Chiba is also "prohibited from participating in any form of gambling; being in the presence of any illegal or legal gambling; frequenting any business, residence or area where gambling activities have occurred or presently occurring; and associating with any persons engaged in gambling or any known gamblers," according to a court document.

As part of a plea agreement, Chiba will forfeit$15,886 seized from his Kauai home by FBI agents and $13,549 seized from his bank account. He also agreed to pay $11,096 inrestitution to the Internal Revenue Services for taxes owed in 2012.

During Chiba’s sentencing, Kobayashi said gambling harms the community. "It hurts families," she said, noting it causes people to spend money they don’t have. She took into consideration that Chiba did not have a criminal history, has a strong employment history, has strong ties to his family and the community, and cooperated with law enforcement in his case.

He was ordered to surrender on Nov. 13 to serve his sentence. Chiba will likely be incarcerated at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

He currently remains free on a $25,000 unsecured, signature bond.

After the hearing, attorney Michael Green, who represented Chiba, said he was unhappy with the six-month jail sentence and had hoped for home confinement.

In June, Chiba pleaded guilty to running a sports betting operation with eight other people, and falsely reporting the adjusted gross income for his tax return for 2012. He stated he earned $99,880 in 2012 when his adjusted gross income was actually higher because he earned an additional $39,779 as a bookie.

During the sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Butrick said Chiba, an administrator for the state Department of Public Safety’s Kauai Intake Service Center and a member of the police commission at the time, should have known better.

Chiba wiped away tears when he spoke in court, apologizing to his loved ones and the court for his actions. "I’m not going to do this again. I’m over it. I’m done," he said.

Nearly two dozen letters were submitted by family and friends as well as community members and leaders like Kauai Police Chief Darryl Perry and state Rep. Derek Kawakami in support of Chiba.

From August 2009 to February, Chiba operated an illegal sports gambling business from his home in Lihue. According to a court document, he emailed line sheets containing sports betting information to his agents and players on a weekly basis during football season.

He also used his cellphone to text line sheets for football games held during the week. Chiba and his agents would receive wagers from players via email and text and would then coordinate the placement of wagers on a sports betting website.

Chiba and his agents collected gambling debts and paid out gambling winnings weekly. The court document said his sports gambling business was primarily a "6/5" operation with 20 percent "juice," which means when the players’ team lost, they would pay Chiba an additional 20 percent of their wager.

He resigned from the Police Commission in late February after FBI agents raided his home and bank account earlier that month.

He was appointed to the commission for a partial term in 2011 by Mayor Bernard Carvalho. He was reappointed the following year for a full three-year term.

Green said Chiba likely will lose his job with the Department of Public Safety.

Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said, "There is still an ongoing internal investigation that requires the receipt of the final sentencing documents before we can move forward."

Kauai County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said the county declined to comment on the sentencing since Chiba is no longer a member of the Police Commission. Commission Chairman Charles Iona also declined to comment.

Chiba was the bookie for Dodge Watson, 34, a former University of Hawaii Foundation employee who was recently sentenced to probation by a federal judge for using scholarship money to pay off his gambling debt.

Watson was employed with the foundation for eight years and served as the scholarship administrator in December 2012 when he forged signatures of other foundation employees to obtain approval for a $2,000 scholarship check made payable to his bookie. In June, Watson pleaded guilty to identity theft.

He was fined $2,000 that he already paid back and ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.