Court documents allege Hawkeye and Cyclone athletes bet on college sports

(WOI-DT) – Four Iowa State athletes and one University of Iowa athlete have been charged with Tampering With Records for allegedly using accounts under other people’s names to bet on college sports, including Cyclone events. 

According to court documents, Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers, wrestler Paniro Johnson, football offensive lineman Dodge Sauser and former Cyclone football player Eyioma Uwazurike all concealed their true identities in order to place bets. University of Iowa baseball player Gehrig Christensen is also facing the same charge.

Iowa’s Christensen used his a family member’s identity to register on DraftKings and placed nearly 560 bets using her information, 23 of which were University of Iowa sporting events. The wagers totaled more than $2,400 and the family member said he bet with “her consent and knowledge”.

Johnson allegedly placed 1,283 wagers, totaling $45,640, using someone else’s name. Of those bets, the sophomore Cyclone wrestler gambled on approximately 25 ISU sporting events. 

Sauser, who was red-shirted during the 2021-2022 football season but on the field for 2022-2023, used a family member’s name to place nearly 113 bets. His gambling totaled just over $3,000, and a dozen of the games bet on involved the ISU football team, including 2022 games against Ohio, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. 

Dekkers, who has been a Cyclone since 2020, allegedly placed 26 bets on ISU sporting events, including at least one football game. Court documents claim he disguised his identity by using a DraftKings account under the names of two relatives.

His nearly 370 total bets add up to “over $2,799” and were placed from his cellphone on Iowa State’s campus. 

The charges comes amid a statewide investigation into betting at the University of Iowa and ISU conducted by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation. 

Dekkers’ lawyers, Mark Weinhardt and Elisabeth Tursi, said the investigation has been going on since May, when “DCI agents executed a search warrant at Hunter’s apartment in Ames and another at his family’s home in northwest Iowa”.

They also said Dekkers denies the charge against him and plans to plead not guilty.

“This charge attempts to criminalize a daily fact of American life. Millions of people share online accounts of all kinds every day,” his legal team said in a statement.

Current Denver Bronco defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike was on the Cyclones football team from 2016-2022. Allegedly, Uwazurike posed as someone else on FanDuel and completed just over 800 wagers totaling $21,361. Of those games, four were placed on ISU events — two of which he played in. He’s also currently suspended from the NFL’s 2023 season for betting on sports. 

Violating the NCAA’s rules against sports betting could result in a permanent loss of eligibility for the current college players.