Mississippi Woman Pleads Guilty in Oil Spill Fraud Case

A 29-year-old Gulfport, Miss., woman has accepted a plea agreement for her role in a family scheme to get oil spill recovery money with fraudulent claims of lost wages.

The Sun Herald reports Sonya Renee Williams pleaded guilty in federal court Monday on a charge involving a $21,000 check from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust Fund.

She is free on bond pending sentencing Oct. 1. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

Williams is the sixth relative to plead guilty in a family scheme to file claims for lost wages by using paperwork from a bogus business.

Her husband, Stephen D. Williams, pleaded guilty June 27 to mail fraud involving two checks that totaled over $60,000. His sentencing is set for Sept. 13.