BECKLEY — The four people who entered a Raleigh County coal mine Dec. 7 and drew national attention when they got lost, will likely face charges over the incident.
“You have trespassing and there’s another charg,e which is entering without breaking or breaking and entering a mine for the purpose of stealing or committing a felony. You also have conspiracy,” Raleigh County Sheriff Scott Van Meter said on MetroNews Talkline Friday. “We’ll do our investigation and meet with the prosecuting attorney in Raleigh County and see what we think is the right charge.”
Three of the four already had pending charges from unrelated, prior incidents. Eddie Williams, 43, of Artie, faced a charge of breaking into an Alpha Natural Resources mine in January and stealing 60 feet of copper wiring valued at more than $1,200. The Beckley Register Herald reported Friday Williams was indicted by a Raleigh County grand jury in May for grand larceny, destruction of property and trespassing for the incident. Williams is the one who managed to get out of the mine Sunday night and helped rescue teams locate the other three.
Court documents indicated his cousin, Kayla Williams, 25, was also indicted by a Raleigh County grand jury for possession of a control substance with intent to deliver, along with felony conspiracy.
A third member of the group, Erica Treadway, 31, of Pax, was on bond when she entered the mine. She was charged by Raleigh County authorities in October with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with no prescription.
None of the three had gone to trial for those charges.
Cody Beverly, 21, of Clear Creek, was the fourth person rescued from the mine. Although he had no pending charges, WSAZ TV reported his father, Brandon Beverly, is in prison for mine break-ins in Raleigh, Boone, Mingo, Logan and McDowell counties.
Public pressure is mounting for law enforcement to charge the group with something. Van Meter said his department would not be in a rush to do anything until it’s investigated and evidence is gathered.
“We want to be thorough, that’s what we do here at the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department. I want to meet with the prosecutor when we have our investigation wrapped up and decide what charges we want to pursue,” he said Friday. “I don’t want to say it’s going to be today or tomorrow, but it’s not going to be three weeks from now either.”
Van Meter said his office routinely gets calls about trespassing on mine property and break-ins at sealed underground operations.
“People shouldn’t go into a mine. There’s no reason that anyone should be in a mine,” said Van Meter. “Abandoned mine, active mine or inactive mine, you shouldn’t be in there unless you work there. There’s no other reason for anyone to ever be in there.”
