US Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia R Booth Goodwin confirmed that Thomas Harrah, 45, had been charged with two felonies, one for making a false statement on federal mine safety documentation and the other for making false statements to a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and a special investigator for the US Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Harrah, who was employed by Massey at UBB from January 2008 to August 2009, performed the duties of a foreman despite not being qualified to do so. Some of those duties included signing off on pre-shift and on-shift examination reports.

During this period, Harrah allegedly did not have and knew he did not have a mine foreman’s certificate but still signed his name on forms and falsely listed a foreman’s certificate number that did not belong to him.

The charges also allege that on October 22, 2010, Harrah made false statements to FBI and special MSHA investigators during an interview relating to the false foreman number.

“Harrah falsely stated that an officer of Performance Coal Company provided him with a phone number to call after he had taken and failed the mine foreman's examination [and] also falsely stated that when he called this number, the person on the phone provided him with a mine foreman's certification number,” Goodwin said.

In reality, he noted, the foreman’s certificate number was invented by Harrah.

“I want to be clear: There will be real consequences if you falsify records, lie to federal agents, or otherwise attempt to obstruct this investigation,” Goodwin noted.

The charges against Harrah result from an investigation by the FBI and MSHA related to the events leading up the April 2010 explosion at UBB. Each count against Harrah carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $US250,000.

Massey officials, who confirmed late last year that Harrah no longer worked for Massey, told ILN Wednesday that the company had not yet seen the charges.

“When Mr Harrah was caught having forged the certification, he left before we could terminate his employment, which we intended to do,” Massey spokesperson Jeff Gillenwater said.

“It appears that Mr Harrah forged the certification because he was unable to pass the test to obtain the certification.”

Gillenwater added that Massey did not have tolerance for such behavior and was thankful that no one was hurt as a result of the conduct.

“The state has recently made it easier to verify certifications online, and we applaud that effort,” he said.

Massey vice-president and general counsel Shane Harvey said late last year, when Harrah’s actions were initially revealed, that the company had quickly taken steps after the incident to verify all miner certifications for its employees.

“It does not appear that he blames anyone else for the incident other than himself and we feel confident that no one at Massey helped Mr Harrah violate the law,” he said.

“We feel that we have learned a valuable lesson from the incident.”