Sterling Oil Employee Pleads Guilty

LYNCHBURG (AP) – A Sterling Oil employee will spend up to six months in jail for defrauding the Virginia Department of Social Services.

WDBJ-TV reports that Donna Beeler-Hensley pleaded guilty Wednesday in Lynchburg Circuit Court to 62 government fraud counts.

She also must may more than $16,000 in fines and restitution.

Lynchburg-based Sterling Oil formerly was a vendor for the state’s fuel assistance program. Prosecutors say Beeler-Hensley, the company’s office manager, overbilled the Department of Social Services.

Beeler-Hensley said in a statement from her attorney that she was trying to help her customers.

She said she sometimes would hold back part of a delivery because it wouldn’t fit in a customer’s tank.

The fuel would then be delivered later.