Man found guilty in Sterling home explosion that killed firefighter, injured others

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — After three days of deliberation, a jury convicted a man charged in a home explosion in Sterling that killed a volunteer firefighter and hurt several other people.

Jurors found Roger Lee Bentley, a former employee of Southern States Cooperative, Inc. – Leesburg – Fairfax Petroleum Service’s (Southern States), guilty of the four charges he faced, including involuntary manslaughter.

Emergency crews went to a house on Silver Ridge Drive on Feb. 16, 2024 after someone smelled gas there. They determined that an underground propane tank was leaking. It was that tank that was the source of the explosion that killed Trevor Brown, 45, a member of Sterling Volunteer Fire Company.

More than a dozen other people were hurt.

Court documents filed in 2024 said that prior to the explosion, the homeowner asked Southern States to come out to service the tank, which supplied propane to her pool’s heater. The homeowner was hoping to put the property up for sale.

The paperwork went on to say that it would need to assess the tank and fill it with propane. That was supposed to take place on Feb. 22, 2024. Instead, someone showed up on Feb. 16 and started to fill the tank. That person smelled gas and reached out to three Southern States supervisors and said the tank would need to be dug up or the rest of the propane in the tank would need to be pumped off. The work could not be completed that day.

Bentley, who was a technician with Southern States, came to assess the situation.

Court documents stated doorbell camera video showed Bentley telling the homeowner they decided to allow the tank to leak the remaining propane and “let it seep out of the ground and be on their merry way.”

Hours later, when crews responded to the home for the reported gas leak, they smelled the propane and could see fumes coming from the tank’s connection. Readings indicated high levels of propane vapors, high enough that they could ignite.

The homeowner, a captain, and a lieutenant from the fire department called Bentley. During the conversation, Bentley said acknowledged there was a leak, but he was not sure if the remaining propane could be siphoned out due to the age and condition of the tank.

As crews investigated the situation, the explosion took place.