Massey official Stover arrested; allegedly lied in disaster inquiry

By Daniel Malloy, Post-Gazette Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Criminal investigators sent an unmistakably aggressive signal in probing the fatal Upper Big Branch mine explosion Monday with the arrest of a top security official on a pair of felony charges.

As part of a continuing grand jury investigation, Hughie Elbert Stover, 60, the head of security for Massey Energy subsidiary Performance Coal Co., was arrested at his home in Raleigh County, W.Va., and charged with making false statements to federal agents and obstructing a federal investigation. The grand jury, which has been meeting for months in Charleston, W.Va., indicted him last week.

The April 5, 2010, explosion killed 29 men, the deadliest mine disaster in four decades. Mr. Stover is the first person to be charged in the criminal probe, and the grand jury's work appears to be far from finished.

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