Mine Employee Sentenced for Violating Safety Law

An employee at a Kentucky coal mine has been sentenced for violating the federal Mine Safety and Health Act.

The U.S. attorney's office said Daniel L. Couch Jr. pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced last week to two years of supervised probation and fined $2,000.

Couch, the chief of maintenance at Ken American Resources Paradise #9 Mine in Muhlenberg County, was supposed to make a weekly inspection of electric equipment.

The prosecutor's office said in a news release that an inspector found on May 17, 2016, that Couch didn't make required weekly fire suppression checks during the week of May 1 to May 7, 2016. But two days later, the inspector re-examined the record book , and it indicated "D. Couch" had inspected the equipment on May 7 with no hazards found.