Man filed fraudulent registration to receive BP reimbursement, LDWF says
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents arrested a Buras man earlier this week for alleged boat registration charges, including filing false documents and injuring public records.
Limaeul Watson, 66, was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail after an investigation in May revealed that he had tried to register a 20-foot aluminum boat in April of this year, according to a press release.
Watson claimed on the boat registration forms that he had purchased the vessel in April of 2010, the release states.
However, investigators determined the boat in question wasn’t manufactured until July of 2010, and that Watson didn’t purchase it until that October, according to LDWF.
It is believed Watson filed a fraudulent boat registration in order to receive reimbursement from BP for work he allegedly did in the vessel related to the oil spill cleanup in 2010, according to the release. He has submitted a reimbursement claim with BP that has not been fulfilled at this time, LDWF said.
Injuring public records and filing false public documents each bring up to a $5,000 fine and five years in jail per offense, according to the press release.
