Former Montana Mine Official Pleads Guilty to Workplace Accident Coverups

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A former official for a central Montana coal mine plead guilty to conspiring with others to not make required reports about workplace accidents that injured employees, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana said.

Dale Lee Musgrave of Pompeys Pillar, who was vice president of underground operations at Signal Peak Mine near Roundup from 2013 to 2019, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to submit false statement in records. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The plea agreement calls for federal prosecutors to seek the dismissal of two counts of cocaine trafficking and two other false statement charges. A sentencing date has not been set.

In 2018, a worker had his fingers crushed while loading mining materials, causing an injury that required a partial amputation, prosecutors said.

As the worker was being taken to the hospital, he received a call from Musgrave, who told him to claim that the injury was not related to his mine work and that Musgrave would make it worth his while, court records said.

In 2019 another worker was injured when dirt and debris fell from an excavated mine wall, partially burying him and injuring his leg, which required surgery, prosecutors said.

Based on encouragement from Musgrave and others, the worker told doctors he injured his leg in an all-terrain vehicle crash, officials said. Other employees eventually learned the accident had been concealed and reported it to the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

In October, the mining company pleaded guilty to federal charges that it violated environmental and employee safety regulations in an agreement that calls for a $1 million fine.

The prosecution of the mine was part of a broad corruption investigation into mine management and operations that led to convictions of former mine officials and associates for embezzlement, tax evasion, bank fraud, money laundering and firearms violations.