US Attorney for the southern district of West Virginia R Booth Goodwin said Hughie Elbert Stover, 59, who was security chief for UBB and at least two other Massey operations, had been charged for making false statements to the US Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Stover was previously charged with two other felonies in February of this year, including obstructing justice by concealing documents and making materially false statements to federal agents in the UBB criminal investigation.

“Today, a federal grand jury in Charleston returned a superseding indictment that adds a third count to these two previous charges,” Goodwin said, adding that Stover’s statements were allegedly in a sworn deposition before the MSHA investigative team.

“The newly alleged false statements concern the same question as the statements charged in the February 2011 indictment: whether UBB personnel received advance notice from security guards when MSHA inspectors were coming into the mine,” he said.

According to the superseding indictment, the security chief had told federal investigators that the security guards under his direction were forbidden from announcing the arrival of MSHA inspectors. In truth, it was Stover himself who actually directed guards not to make such announcements.

Stover’s charges stem from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General. Both are being assisted by MSHA special investigators.

Stover pleaded not guilty last month to the initial two felony charges.

Massey general counsel Shane Harvey told ILN at the time: "The company takes this matter very seriously and is committed to cooperating with the US Attorney’s office. The matter remains under review and the company has no further comment at this time."

The case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia at Beckley under case reference US versus Stover, 11-cr-38.