A Radford-area convenience store chain accused of ripping people off with outrageously high gasoline prices will pay refunds to affected consumers.

Virginia Attorney General Bill Mims announced a $4,000 settlement Monday with the owner of three Bucko's Pantry locations, two in Radford and one in Dublin, where prices soared above $5 last fall.

About $400 of the settlement is for refunds, $800 for the American Red Cross and the rest going to the state for investigative and other expenses.

According to state law, gouging is charging an unconscionable price for goods or services during a time of declared emergency.

Prosecutors said they found evidence at one Bucko's location of a four-day price rise from $3.599 to $5.799 in the days before Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, Texas, in September 2008.

The company, which denied wrongdoing, said in court papers that it temporarily raised prices to slow sales and preserve its fuel supply in response to skyrocketing demand as Ike neared the Gulf Coast.

It said it did not know when it would be able to purchase more fuel or at what price, because of the risk of disruptions in fuel production and deliveries. Without fuel to sell, it is more difficult for a convenience store to lure customers inside, where they might buy other goods such as food and beverages.

"I certainly didn't intentionally try to price-gouge anybody," company owner and President William Stone said in an interview.

Stone added that he lowered his prices much of the way back to where they were promptly after learning that a feared gasoline shortage -- along with a spike in his price for fuel -- was no longer likely.

He estimated he sold between 60 and 80 gallons of fuel at the elevated prices, which were in effect for about four hours.

Stone said in court papers he was unaware of Virginia's price-gouging ban under which the state brought civil charges in Radford Circuit Court.

Bruce Arkema, the company's attorney, said it would have cost Stone $15,000 to $30,000 to fight the allegations in court.

Prosecutors said the case, filed in response to a consumer complaint or complaints, was the first legal settlement brought as a result of the Ike-related gasoline run-up.

Prosecutors would not say whether they are still negotiating with other gasoline retailers suspected of price gouging.

"This settlement will send a strong message that Virginia intends to enforce our Anti-Price Gouging Act," Mims said in a prepared statement.