Case 4:18-cr-00015-JHM Document 1 Filed 07/11/18 Page 1 of 13 PageID #: 1

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
AT OWENSBORO

2111 JUL I I AH 10: 25

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
INDICTMENT
\

V.
\

NO.

fkl0Cil-15-~
18 U.S.C. § 371

CHARLEY BARBER
BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER
STEVE DEMOSS
BILLIE HEARLD
RONIVY
JOHN ELLIS SCOTT
DWIGHT FULKERSON
JEREMY HACKNEY

INTRODUCTION
At times relevant to this Indictment:
1. Beginning no later than January 1, 2013, and continuing through August 8, 2015, the

defendants, CHARLEY BARBER, BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER, STEVEN DEMOSS,
BILLIE HEARLD, RON IVY,

JOHN ELLIS SCOTT, DWIGHT FULKERSON, and

JEREMY HACKNEY, all defendants herein, and agents of Armstrong Coal Company, an

unindicted co-conspirator, conspired to commit dust fraud by knowingly and willfully altering the
company's required dust-sampling procedures, by circumventing the dust-sampling regulations,
submitting false samples, and by making false statements on dust certification cards. The dustsampling procedures are mandatory health and safety standards designed to protect the nation's

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miners from the scourges of pneumoconiosis, commonly known as "black lung," and silicosis the
most common coal-mine dust-caused diseases. Chronic exposure to respirable coal mine dust
causes lung diseases that can lead to permanent disability and death. By circumventing the dustsampling procedures, Armstrong Coal and its co-conspirators, avoided implementing ventilation
and production controls that might cost money or lower production, and thus were able to save
money at the expense of exposing the miners employed at the Parkway and Kronos mines to the
risks of breathing air with elevated levels of respirable coal dust, increasing their risks of
contracting black lung.
2.

Armstrong Coal Company was the corporate operator of coal mmes located in

Muhlenberg and Ohio Counties, in the Western District of Kentucky, (the Parkway and Kronos
mines) as defined in Title 30, United States Code, Sections 802(d) and was subject to the provisions
of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, as amended, under Title 30, United States Code,
Section 803, in that Armstrong Coal utilized equipment manufactured outside the state of
Kentucky that entered into or affected interstate commerce.
3.

CHARLEY BARBER, was Superintendent at Parkway Mine. BRIAN KEITH

CASEBIER was Safety Director at Parkway Mine. STEVEN DEMOSS was Assistant Safety

Director and later Safety Director at Parkway Mine. BILLIE HEARLD was a Section Foreman
at Parkway Mine and later a miner at Kronos Mine. RON IVY was Safety Director at Kronos
Mine. JOHN ELLIS SCOTT was employed in the Safety Department at Parkway Mine, and
both DWIGHT FULKERSON and JEREMY HACKNEY were Section Foremen who
performed dust sampling at Parkway Mine. All of these persons had Federal Dust Certification
cards, meaning they had received training on the dust regulations referred to in this Indictment.

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All of these persons were agents of Armstrong Coal Company as that term is defined in Title 30,
United States Code, Sections 802( e) and 820( c).
4. In order to protect the mining industry' s "most precious resource - the m iner," Congress
passed the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, as augmented by the MINER Act of 2006
(hereinafter the Mine Act). A stated purpose of the Mine Act is to provide working conditions in
underground coal mines sufficiently free of respirable dust concentrations so as to permit each
miner the opportunity to work underground during the period of his or her entire adult life without
incurring any disability from black lung and silicosis.
5.

Black lung is an occupational lung disease typically not incurred by the general

population. When coal dust particles enter the lungs, they irritate the delicate lung tissue and
eventually form massive impenetrable fibrous tissue that significantly restricts the lung's functions
and causes scarring, which can lead to lung failure and death. Once black lung develops, it cannot
be reversed. Black lung is preventable, yet from 2005 -2014 over 4,800 of the nation's miners died
from black lung. Lowering the concentration of respirable coal mine dust in the air that miners
breathe is the on1 y means of preventing diseases caused by excessive exposure to such dust. There
are no specific treatments to cure black lung. The chronic effects of black lung may progress even
after the miners are no longer exposed to respirable coal dust resulting in increasing disability and
death. Major sources of dust generation in continuous mining operations are continuous mining
machines, shuttle cars and roof bolters. Major control methods for dust in mining operations are
water and ventilation control systems.
6. The Mine Act ordered the Secretary of Labor, acting through an agency of the United
States Department of Labor; that is, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (hereinafter

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MSHA), to develop "mandatory health and safety standards for the protection of life and
prevention of injuries in coal and other mines" which, subsequent to commentary and review,
became law and to which each operator and its agents must adhere. Title 30, United States Code,
Sections 801 and 811. These standards include requirements to monitor the mine atmosphere and
take and record dust-samples as well as creating and maintaining records. These dust regulations
improve the health protections for coal miners by reducing their occupational exposure to
respirable coal mine dust and by lowering the risk they will suffer material impairment of health
or functional capacity over their working lives.
7. Each mine operator is required by regulation to continuously maintain that the average
concentration of respirable dust in the mine atmosphere during each shift not exceed 2.0 milligrams
of dust per cubic meter of air as measured by an approved sampling device. (The permissible
amount was reduced to 1.5 milligrams after August 1, 2014). Respirable dust levels are managed
through the use of engineering controls like water sprays and ventilation control systems, as part
of each mine's comprehensive methane and dust plan. To ensure that standards are met, dustmonitoring and sampling procedures mandate that each operator take accurate samples of the
amount of respirable dust to which each miner in the active working portions of the mine is
exposed. Samples are required to be submitted for 60-day sampling periods set for January 1 to
February 28, March 1 to April 30, May 1 to June 30, July 1 to August 31 , September 1 to October
30, and November 1 to December 31. Title 30, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 70.
8. Dust monitoring and sampling is required by regulation to be conducted by a certified
person; that is, a miner who has passed an examination administered by MSHA personnel in the

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dust regulations. This person must also maintain and calibrate the sampling devices used to
conduct the tests. Title 30, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 70, Section 203.
9. Sampling devices must be worn by the miners being sampled from portal to portal; that
is, from their entry to the mine until they exit. The sampling devices must also be operational
during the entire shift. (Under regulations in force prior to August 1, 2014, the sampling devices
were required to be operational for the entire shift or for 8 hours, whichever time was less). In
mechanized mining machine units (MMU), such as those at Parkway and Kronos, the sampling
device must be worn on the cutting machine operator within 36 inches inby (in the direction of the
working face) from the normal working position.
10. A certified person is required to examine the sampling device during the second hour
after it is put into operation to assure it is in the proper location and that it is operating properly
and at the proper flowrate . In the last hour of operation a certified person is again required to
examine the sampling device to assure it continued to operate properly and at the proper flowrate.
The goal of this testing process is to achieve five valid representative samples which must be
collected on consecutive normal production shifts. (What constitutes a minimum or normal
production shift is governed by regulation; however, if a normal production shift is not achieved,
MSHA may void the sample).
11. A person certified in sampling must properly complete the dust data card that is
provided by the manufacturer for each filter cassette. (Under the post August 1, 2014 regulations
the person completing the card must be the same person who actually performed the examinations
on the sampling equipment referenced above). Within 24 hours after the end of the sampling shift
the mine operator is required to mail the cassette and the corresponding dust data card to the

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Respiratory Dust Processing Laboratory in Pittsburgh, PA. Title 30, Code of Federal Regulations,
Section 70.210.

The Grand Jury charges:
COUNTl
(Conspiracy to Defraud the US.)
12. The Grand Jury re-alleges Paragraphs 1 through 11 as if fully incorporated here.
13. Between January 1, 2013 , and August 8, 2015, in the Western District of Kentucky,
Muhlenberg and Ohio Counties, CHARLEY BARBER, BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER,

STEVEN DEMOSS, BILLIE HEARLD, RON IVY, JOHN ELLIS SCOTT, DWIGHT
FULKERSON, and JEREMY HACKNEY, all defendants herein, and agents of Armstrong Coal
Company, an unindicted co-conspirator, did knowingly, willfully, and voluntarily, combine,
conspire, confederate and agree together and with other persons, both known and unknown to the
grand jury, to defraud the United States and an agency thereof, that is MSHA, by deceit, trickery
and dishonest means, of its lawful and legitimate function in the administration and enforcement
of the Mine Act.
OBJECT AND MEANS
14. The object and purpose of this conspiracy was to commit and to conceal from MSHA
the ongoing, systemic, and pervasive violation of mandatory health and safety standards, including
but not limited to the average concentration of respirable dust within Parkway and Kronos mines,
along with violations of the monitoring and sampling requirements of the Mine Act.

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15. Among the manner and means by which the defendants, and the unindicted coconspirators known and unknown to the grand jury, carried out the objects of the conspiracy, were
the following:
(a)

CHARLEY BARBER, BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER, STEVEN DEMOSS,

BILLIE HEARLD, RON IVY,

JOHN ELLIS SCOTT, DWIGHT FULKERSON, and

JEREMY HACKNEY, agents of Armstrong Coal Company, an unindicted co-conspirator, and
other conspirators both known and unknown to the grand jury, did "switch off' miner operators
during dusty conditions in Parkway and in Kronos mines while dust samples were being taken;
that is, MMU operators were ordered to remove dust sampling equipment and place the equipment
in clean air, or the operators themselves were replaced and the MMU was operated by persons not
equipped with dust sampling equipment;
(b)

CHARLEY BARBER, BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER, STEVEN DEMOSS,

BILLIE HEARLD, RON IVY, and DWIGHT FULKERSON, agents of Armstrong Coal
Company, an unindicted co-conspirator, and other conspirators both known and unknown to the
grand jury, did remove and cause to be removed dust sampling devices from miners in designated
occupations for sampling (DO), that is, MMU operators and roof bolters, for less than the entire
shift when samples are required to be taken;
(c) CHARLEY BARBER, STEVEN DEMOSS, RON IVY, JOHN ELLIS SCOTT,
and JEREMY HACKNEY, agents of Armstrong Coal Company, an unindicted co-conspirator,
and other conspirators both known and unknown to the grand jury, did improperly and contrary to
their training and to regulations certify dust results when they knew, or hadreason to know, that
sampling devices had not been examined during the second and last hour of shifts, that dust

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sampling devices had been dropped or damaged without notation on the dust data card that the
sample might be voidable, that results were certified in advance of shifts, and that persons certified
to conduct dust sampling were assigned to other duties, or had otherwise left the mine during shifts
on which they certified that they were present and conducting the tests;
(d) STEVEN DEMOSS, RON IVY, JOHN ELLIS SCOTT, and JEREMY

HACKNEY, agents of Armstrong Coal Company, an unindicted co-conspirator, and other
conspirators both known and unknown to the grand jury, did improperly and contrary to their
training and to regulations allow dust sampling devices to run for several minutes outside of the
mine in clean air rooms, both prior to and at the conclusion of the shift, and prior to the cassettes
being removed from the devices and being mailed to MSHA.
OVERT ACTS
16. In furtherance of the conspiracy and to effect the objects thereof, the defendants and
co-conspirators performed in the Western District of Kentucky, Muhlenberg and Ohio Counties,
and elsewhere, among others, the following overt acts:
17. In or about August of 2013 , CHARLEY BARBER, then Superintendent of Parkway
Mine, met with an unindicted co-conspirator, whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, and
ordered him to do whatever you have to do to "make the pumps come in."
18. On or about and between August 5, 2014, and July 21, 2015, STEVEN DEMOSS,
and unindicted co-conspirators whose identities are known to the grand jury, falsified dust data
. cards by representing that they had conducted dust sampling when, in fact, they had travelled with
an MSHA inspector and performed other duties during the time the sampling was represented to
have occurred.

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19. On or about May 15, 2015, JOHN ELLIS SCOTT and JEREMY HACKNEY,
signed and caused to be submitted to MSHA dust data cards representing that sampling had
occurred during a shift, when, in fact, power was off at Parkway Mine and the mine had been
evacuated.
20. On or about and between January 1, 2013, and continuing through August 8, 2015,

BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER, STEVEN DEMOSS, BILLIE HEARLD, RON IVY and
DWIGHT FULKERSON, removed dust sampling devices from miners on MMU's prior to the
end of the required sampling period.
21. On or about November 18, 2014, STEVEN DEMOSS and JOHN ELLIS SCOTT,
voided samples and removed, or caused to be removed, dust sampling devices from MMU
operators on

two mining sections at Parkway Mine because of excessive

dust but nevertheless

continued to mine coal on the sections and certified and submitted false statements on dust data
cards as to the amount of coal mined on the shift, and the length of production time.
22. On or about and between January 8, 2014, and July 11, 2015, RON IVY, ordered
certified persons performing dust sampling at Kronos Mine to perform other duties when the law
and their training required that they perform checks on the dust sampling devices during those
periods.
23. On or about and between January 7, 2013, and January 9, 2014, STEVEN DEMOSS
at Parkway Mine and an unindicted co-conspirator whose identity is known to the grand jury, at
Kronos Mine, certified dust sampling results on dust data cards for two successive shifts
representing 16 hours underground when, in fact, they had clocked out after 12 hours and left the
mme.

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24. On or about and between August 5, 2014, and August 6, 2015, STEVEN DEMOSS
and JOHN ELLIS SCOTT at Parkway mine and RON IVY and JEREMY HACKNEY at
Kronos mine caused dust sampling devices to run in a clean air rooms both before a.n d after the
production shift so as to dilute the amount of dust in the sample prior to submission to MSHA.
In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

A TRUE BILL.

REDACTED
l,f,;, 'r

o~

~

RUSSELL M. COLEMAN
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
RMC:rr:07/10/18

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. CHARLEY BARBER, BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER, STEVEN DEMOSS, BILLIE HEARLD,
RON IVY, JOHN ELLIS SCOTT, DWIGHT FULKERSON, JEREMY HACKNEY
PE N AL T I E S

Count I : NM 5 yrs. or $250,000 fine ob/3 Supervised Release

NOTICE
ANY PERSON CONVICTED OF AN OFFENSE AGAINST THE UNITED STATES SHALL BE SUBJECT TO SPECIAL
ASSESSMENTS, FINES, RESTITUTION & COSTS.

SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS
18 U.S.C. § 3013 requires that a special assessment shall be imposed for each count of a conviction of offenses committed after
November 11 , 1984, as follows:
Misdemeanor:
$ 25 per count/individual
$125 per count/other$400 per count/other

Felony:

$100 per count/individual

In addition to any of the above assessments, you may also be sentenced to pay a fine. Such fine is due immediately unless the court
issues an order requiring payment by a date certain or ~ets out an installment schedule. You shall provide the United States Attorney's
Office with a current mailing address for the entire period that any part of the fine remains unpaid, or you may be held in contempt of
court. 18 U.S.C . § 3571, 3572, 3611, 3612
Failure to pay fine as ordered may subject you to the following:
1.

INTEREST and PENALTIES as applicable by law according to last date of offense.
For offenses occurring after December 12. 1987:
No INTEREST will accrue on fines under $2,500.00.

INTEREST will accrue according to the Federal Civil Post·Judgment Interest
Rate in effect at the time of sentencing. This rate changes monthly. Interest
accrues from the first business day following the two week period after the date a
fine is imposed.

PENALTIES of:
10% of fine balance if payment more than 30 days late .
15% of fine balance if payment more than 90 days late .
2.

Recordation of a LIEN shall have the same force and effect as a tax lien.

3.

Continuous GARNISHMENT may apply until your fine is paid.

18 U.S.C. §§ 3612, 3613
If you WILLFULLY refuse to pay your fine, you shall be subject to an
ADDITIONAL FINE of not more than the greater of $10,000 or twice the unpaid
balance of the fine; or IMPRISONMENT for not more than 1 year or both. 18
U.S.C. § 3615

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RESTITUTION
If you are convicted of an offense under Title 18, U.S.C., or under certain air piracy offenses, you may also be ordered

to make restitution to any victim of the offense, in addition to, or in lieu of any other penalty authorized by law. 18
U.S .C. § 3663
APPEAL
If you appeal your conviction and the sentence to pay your fine is staye d pending appeal, the court shall require:
1.

That you deposit the entire fine amount (or the amount due under an installment
schedule during the time of your appeal) in an escrow account with the U.S.
District Court Clerk, or

2.

Give bond for payment thereof.

18 U.S.C. § 3572(g)
PAYMENTS
If you are ordered to make payments to the U .S. District Court Clerk's Office, certified checks or money orders should

be made pavable to the Clerk. U.S. District Court and delivered to the appropriate division office listed below:
LOUISVILLE:
106 Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse
601 West Broadway
Louisville, KY 40202
502/625·3500

Clerk, U.S. District Court

BOWLING GREEN:
120 Federal Building
241 East Main Street
Bowling Green, KY 42101
270/393·2500

Clerk, U.S. District Court

OWENSBORO:
126 Federal Building
423 Frederica
Owensboro, KY 42301
270/689·4400

Clerk, U.S. District Court

PADUCAH:
127 Federal Building
501 Broadway
Paducah, KY 42001
270/415·6400

Clerk, U.S. District Court

If the court finds that you have the present ability to pay, an order may direct imprisonment until payment is made.

·

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FORM DBD-34
JUN.85

Hll JUL I I ~H 10: 25
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
Western District of Kentucky
at Owensboro

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
vs.

CHARLEY BARBER, BRIAN KEITH CASEBIER,
STEVE DEMOSS, BILLIE HEARLD, RON IVY, JOHN
ELLIS SCOTT, DWIGHT FULKERSON,
JEREMY HACKNEY

INDICTMENT
Countl
Conspiracy to Defraud the U.S.

18 u.s.c. §371

A true bill.

REDACTED
Filed in open court this I Jlh day ofJuly, 2018.

Clerk

Bail,$