Alleged identity theft fuels woman’s shopping spree

A 58-year-old Aina Haina woman used stolen credit cards to make thousands of dollars in fraudulent purchases at upscale retailers over a six-month period, court documents said.

Kathleen Watanabe was charged with 23 various counts in a grand jury indictment last week.

The counts include firstdegree identity theft, a class A felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison; first-degree theft, a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison; and multiple counts of second-degree theft, second-degree identity theft, fraudulent use of a credit card; and unauthorized possession of confidential personal information.

Watanabe is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $500,000 bail.

According to a police affidavit, Watanabe opened a postal box in Makiki using a Minnesota driver’s license with a Minnesota woman’s name and Watanabe’s picture.

Several duplicate credit cards belonging to Watanabe’s victims were sent to the mailbox without the card owners’ permission, the affidavit said.

Last year, Watanabe allegedly used a Florida woman’s credit card to make three charges at the Ala Moana Foodland in the amounts of $741, $537 and $300.

Using the same card within four days in November, she charged $1,510 at Versace at Ala Moana, $4,680 at Chanel at Ala Moana and $1,362 at Walmart. In the same period, she withdrew $5,500 in cash from First Hawaiian Bank in Moanalua, the affidavit said.

Then in a week that ended in March, Watanabe allegedly used a Texas woman’s card to make numerous fraudulent charges. She spent $1,078 at Safeway on Beretania Street, $2,000 at Apple Store at Ala Moana, $648 at Longs Drugs in Moiliili and $2,002 at Whole Foods Market at Kahala Mall.

In early May, Chase Bank, which had issued the two alleged victims’ credit cards, told police the bank lost $96,000 to fraudulent activity on the cards.

Police said pictures and surveillance video show Watanabe spending a total of $25,561, police said.

Police arrested Watanabe at her home on May 21.

Officers tracked Watanabe down when she went to the postal box business and the license plate of the car she was driving was recorded.

The car belonged to Watanabe’s parents, with whom she lives in Aina Haina. Police connected the picture on the fraudulent Minnesota license with Watanabe’s mug shots and Hawaii driver’s license picture.

Herbert Uyeno, Watanabe’s father, said she was living with him and had a temporary job in customer service with an insurance company.

He said by phone on Saturday that he didn’t know what she had been involved in or why she was arrested.

“I have no idea what she did,” he said.

Uyeno, 85, said his daughter had a prescription from a psychiatrist and had trouble with drugs.

“I put up my hands a long time ago,” he said. “She’s going to face the consequences.”