One of the so-called "Gas Men," a trio who used fake credit and gift cards to obtain tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline across Western Virginia, was sentenced Monday to 42 months in federal prison.

Dereck Lorenzo Dunston, 40, of Evington was sentenced at a hearing in federal court in Lynchburg, Acting U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley announced. Along with two co-defendants scheduled to be sentenced later this month, Dunston had pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, aggravated identity theft and bank fraud.

The three men were called the Gas Men because they took people's credit card numbers, manufactured false cards, then used them to purchase gasoline at service stations from Lynchburg to Roanoke and Salem. Prosecutors said they solicited business at a Lynchburg car wash, offering half-price fuel -- they would ride with customers to the pumps, use the fake cards to buy gas and collect cash for half the amount they had rung up.

Capitol One, the credit card company hit hardest by the fraud, reported more than $131,000 in improper charges and said 500 accounts were compromised by the Gas Men's activities.

Dunston was arrested in January 2008, along with Steve Allen Black, 31, and Ronald Edward Black, 26.

-- Mike Gangloff