By Tribune-Review

Published: Thursday, February 7, 2013, 4:32 p.m.
Updated: Thursday, February 7, 2013

A former Greene County coal miner was charged with risking a catastrophe after being accused of smoking a cigarette inside an underground mine, the state Attorney General's Office announced on Thursday.

Donald Adams, 51, of Spraggs, who worked at the Emerald Mine, a bituminous mine in Franklin Township near Waynesburg, also is charged with reckless endangerment for the incident that prosecutors say occurred on Aug. 23. There were 117 miners working in the mine at the time.

Adams, who was fired, has admitted that a burned cigarette found inside the mine was his but denied smoking, a criminal complaint states. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14.

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