BOISE – Jason Jones, 31, of Boise, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to the charge of False Document Submitted to a Department or Agency of the United States, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

According to the plea agreement, in June 2011, Jones, the safety officer and trainer for Western Construction, Inc., provided to a Mine Safety and Health inspector documents purporting that six miners working at a sand, gravel and shot rock mine in Grandview, Idaho, had received annual safety training. Jones had forged each of the six miners’ names on the documents. None of the miners had received the training. Jones later admitted forging the miners’ signatures on the documents and providing them to the inspector, knowing that none of the miners had received the annual safety training.

The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, up to five years probation, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a maximum term of three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for May 21, 2012, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Boise.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration.