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Monday, February 28, 2011

Security boss for mine where 29 died is indicted

The security chief for the Massey Energy coal mine where 29 workers died last April has been indicted on charges of lying to federal agents and ordering an employee to destroy records of the mine nine months after it exploded. The indictment of Hughie Elbert Stover, 60, was issued last week and unsealed today, reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette.

"The indictment is the first in the mine disaster investigation," notes National Public Radio's Howard Berkes, who has done much reporting on it. "The indictment says the documents were recovered." Stover supervised security at several Massey mines.

Massey said it "takes this matter very seriously and is committed to cooperating with the U.S. attorney’s office. Indeed, the company notified the U.S. attorney’s office within hours of learning that documents had been disposed of and took immediate steps to recover documents and turn them over to the U.S. attorney’s office."

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