A mine manager from Kentucky pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to cover up a fire and keep miners working despite the danger in an underground coal mine in southern Illinois.

Timothy Brandon Parsons, 38, of Louisa, Kentucky, entered a guilty plea Aug. 29 to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Parsons was mine manager at the MC#1 Mine in Franklin County, Illinois, in August 2021 when a cutting torch ignited a fire underground. The torch was being used to clear steel beams from the collapse of a secondary roof support structure.

“When the fire could not be extinguished within 10 minutes, rather than implementing the approved Mine Emergency Evacuation and Firefighting Plan, Parsons and conspirators agreed that they would not evacuate miners or notify MSHA,” says a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice that describes Parsons as “former manager” of the Illinois mine.

“Gas detectors carried by miners alarmed for the presence of more than 10 parts per million of carbon monoxide, yet the mine continued to mine coal during ad hoc firefighting efforts over the course of three shifts from Aug. 12 to 13.”

The Justice Department release says Parsons “tried to conceal the existence of the fire from those not already aware of it by evacuating the mine on the false pretense that a belt used to carry coal from underground to the surface was broken.

“Later that morning, MSHA received an anonymous tip about the fire and then later ordered that the mine be evacuated after inspectors confirmed the existence of the fire.

“Despite the evacuation order, over the next several days, conspirators re-entered the mine on two occasions without MSHA’s permission to assess the fire and manipulate the conditions underground so that MSHA would allow mining to resume. Members of the conspiracy did not wear tracking devices designed to track the underground location of miners and made false entries in mine records,” the Justice Department said.

Court documents do not identify the other alleged conspirators.

The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and FBI investigated the case.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18.