| The mother of a 3-year-old Weston girl who vanished eight months ago will spend eight months behind bars for welfare fraud.
Lena Lunsford will also spend a year on probation. She will begin serving her sentence June 28.
Lunsford appeared before U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey after pleading guilty in January to selling $114 worth of credit on her food-stamp card for $50 cash.
Lunsford was indicted on multiple counts in October, accused of swapping the benefits for cash five times in two months.
Her daughter Aliayah disappeared from their Lewis County home Sept. 24 and has been the object of a wide-spread search and investigation.
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