Port Sulphur Oysterman Turner Pleads Guilty to $300K BP Fraud

Steve Collins Turner Sr., a 73-year-old oysterman from Port Sulphur, Louisiana, has pled guilty to mail fraud after scheming to steal $300,000 in disaster relief funds tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The plea, entered in federal court, lays bare a calculated fraud targeting a program meant to aid victims of one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), established in the wake of the April 20, 2010 explosion, distributed emergency payments to individuals and businesses who suffered financial losses due to the spill. To qualify, applicants had to prove verifiable income loss. Turner, according to the Bill of Information, submitted false documentation claiming he lost income from oyster sales to nonexistent buyers—falsely asserting contracts and transactions that never occurred.

Turner specifically applied for an Emergency Advance Payment, a fast-track aid option, using fabricated records of oyster-buying businesses. These documents falsely showed consistent sales and revenue, painting a picture of a thriving operation gutted by the spill. In reality, prosecutors say, Turner had no such business relationships and submitted the paperwork knowing it was fraudulent.

The scheme could have netted him $300,000 in taxpayer-funded relief meant for those truly devastated by the spill. Instead, it’s landed him in the crosshairs of federal justice. Turner now faces a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. He may also be ordered to pay full restitution.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan has scheduled sentencing for February 22, 2017, where the full consequences of Turner’s actions will be determined. The case was investigated by Special Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, whose involvement underscores the seriousness of defrauding federal disaster relief programs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carter K. D. Guice, Jr. is leading the prosecution. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana emphasized that fraud against relief funds not only breaks the law but betrays every honest victim left struggling in the spill’s aftermath. Turner’s guilty plea is a warning: disaster profiteers will be hunted down and held accountable.