By LISA ARSENAULT, Concord Monitor
A cold snap was coming and oil prices were climbing when the flood of calls
about the J.L. Oliver oil company hit the state's Consumer Protection Bureau in
January 2000. Customers like Carol Lerp of Laconia and Dick Obyc of Somersworth
were asking for help: Their oil dealer hadn't shown up in weeks to deliver
prepaid fuel, and their tanks were almost empty.
In the months that followed, state lawyers would piece together the stories
of Lerp, Obyc and more than 1,000 other J.L. Oliver customers, uncovering a
trail of bad business decisions and failed promises that left so many without
oil in the middle of a cold winter. And although the company's owner, Jonathan
Oliver, was ultimately convicted of fraud for taking money from customers with
no hope of delivering oil, Oliver never repaid those customers, nor was he
required to serve jail time. He didn't file for bankruptcy until four years
later.
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