Assistant US attorney Blaire Malkin said this week that Neil Hasen, 31, had pleaded guilty Monday before US district judge Robert Chambers to making a false statement on on-shift examination documentation while working for Big River Mining’s Broad Run operation in Mason County in February 2009.

Hasen acted as an assistant foreman during that time, signing forms filed with the US Mine Safety and Health Administration that indicated the proper completion of pre-shift and on-shift examinations.

“At the time the defendant signed the forms, he admitted that he was not certified as an assistant foreman and was using another foreman's number to certify that the examinations had been completed,” Malkin said.

“Hasen admitted that he was not qualified to perform the examinations or to certify that they had been performed lawfully.”

The office said that Hasen had signed an on-shift report February 4, 2009, to confirm proper examination of a section of the mine, then listed his false foreman's number on the documentation. He then further admitted to using the unauthorized foreman number on more than two dozen occasions.

He is scheduled to be sentenced June 13, and faces up to five years in prison and a $US250,000 fine.

US attorney William Ihlenfeld II said Tuesday that Luke Pugh and Chad Farrell had both entered guilty pleas in the US District Court in Elkins before magistrate judge John Kaull.

Both are charged with one count of making false statements, representations and certifications in MSHA documentations after claiming to be certified to conduct safety inspections and signing off on the forms.

Pugh formerly worked for Carter Roag Coal at the Pleasant Hill Mine in Randolph County and Farrell is a former employee of Brooks Run Mining’s Poplar Ridge No. 1 deep mine in Webster County.

As part of the plea, Ihlenfeld said, Pugh stipulated that on 387 occasions between June 18, 2007, and April 28, 2009, he knowingly and falsely stated and certified in a report that he was certified by the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Education when he knew that he was not and has never been certified.

Farrell admitted to the same in his plea, stipulating that he had made false statements on 489 occasions from September 15, 2008, to June 5, 2009.

While sentencing has not yet been set for the two, each faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

“Our coal miners deserve to have a safe working environment, and anyone who elects to play games with mine examination reports will be prosecuted,” Ihlenfeld said.

“Workplace safety is of critical importance to the Department of Justice and we will continue to aggressively pursue those who place West Virginia’s workers into harm’s way.”

MSHA assistant secretary Joseph Main added that the agency would “use all available means to hold accountable those who endanger miner safety and health by falsifying required mine examination reports”