If you have eaten fish in St. Thomas in the last twenty years, there is a good chance Scott Turbe caught it. And if you were hungry after Irma, after Maria, or during COVID, there is a good chance he gave it to you for free.

Scott was arrested this week in connection with a federal operation involving cannabis plants. He has not been convicted of anything. He is presumed innocent, and he is now facing the federal system with five children at home and no resources for the kind of defense that situation demands.

We are asking the Virgin Islands community to stand up for a man who has spent his entire life standing up for us.

Who Scott Is

Scott is a professional fisherman and a father of five. His two oldest children just graduated from high school with high honors, a thing he is prouder of than anything he has ever pulled out of the water. He has never been convicted of a crime in his life.

When Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria tore through these islands, Scott did not raise his prices. He cut them in half. And for the people who had nothing left at all—no home, no power, no money—he simply gave the fish away. He did the same thing throughout COVID, when families across this territory were going without.

Over the years, he has donated thousands upon thousands of pounds of fish to Virgin Islanders in need, quietly, without asking for recognition and without keeping a tally.

This is not a new thing in his family. It is who the Turbes are.

His mother taught at Ulla F. Muller Elementary School for about twenty years, and generations of St. Thomas children passed through her classroom. His father was a fisherman who cared deeply about the waters that fed him. He worked alongside UVI marine biologists and gave his own time and resources to help protect our marine sanctuaries so there would still be fish here for the rest of us.

Scott grew up understanding that you take care of the community, and the community takes care of you.

Now he needs us to hold up our end.

Why We Are Asking

Cannabis has been legal for adults in the U.S. Virgin Islands since January 2023, when the Virgin Islands Cannabis Use Act was signed into law. Our own Legislature passed it. Our own Governor signed it. But it took nearly three years for the licensing framework to actually be established, and licensed sales still have not fully begun.

Virgin Islanders have been living in a gap between what our territory has declared legal and what is actually available to them—a gap none of us created.

We also want to say plainly what many Virgin Islanders are already thinking. Fentanyl is moving through our communities and killing people. Families across these islands are still waiting for answers about murdered loved ones, some for years. Those are the cases that keep us up at night.

Whatever one believes about cannabis, it is fair to ask whether this is where our enforcement resources do the most good for the people who live here.

What Your Donation Pays For

Every dollar raised will go directly to Scott’s legal defense—attorney’s fees, court costs, and the expenses of mounting a real defense in federal court. Nothing else.

If this fund raises more than his defense requires, we are committing right now that every remaining dollar will be split between Feed an Island and the Humane Society of St. Thomas. Not a cent of it will be kept.

That is a promise from a family that has spent three generations giving things away—his father to our waters, his mother to our children, Scott to anyone who was hungry.

Federal defense is expensive, and a working fisherman supporting five children does not have that kind of money sitting somewhere.

What We Are Asking You To Do

Give what you can. $10 matters. $25 matters.

If you ever bought fish from Scott at half price when you were struggling, this is the moment to remember it.

And if you cannot give, please share this. Send it to your family, your church, your crew, and your WhatsApp groups.

This community is small, and it is strong. It has always taken care of its own.

Scott fed us when we had nothing. Let’s not leave him standing alone now.