Sentencing Postponed For Former UBB Employee
{West Virginia}...A man who admitted to lying to federal investigators about his qualifications while working at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County was scheduled to be sentenced in federal court Wednesday. The sentencing for former Upper Big Branch Mine employee Thomas Harrah, 45, of Comfort, has been postponed a second time after he pleaded guilty in April to making false statements to officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation during an investigation into the disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine that left 29 miners dead. FBI agents questioned Harrah about his time at UBB in 2008 and 2009, before the April 2010 explosion. Harrah also admitted to signing paperwork related to foreman investigations, despite the fact that he was not qualified to sign the documents and had never passed the test to become a foreman. Harrah, who faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine when sentenced, did not work at UBB at the time of the fatal explosion. A new sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
