CHARLESTON, WV—United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Alvis Porter, 61, of Holden, Logan County, West Virginia, was sentenced to three years of federal probation and a $2,000 fine.

In July 2014, Porter pleaded guilty to failing to collect, account for and pay over federal employment taxes. He also admitted to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to David Runyon, general manager of Arch Coal’s Mountain Laurel mining complex in Logan County.

Porter owned and operated Quality Oil, Inc., which did construction work at the Mountain Laurel complex. Porter admitted that he began paying kickbacks to Runyon in 2009, so Runyon would continue to hire Porter’s company to do work at the mine. Porter paid Runyon $5,000 per month initially, with the sum eventually growing to $10,000 per month. Porter estimates he paid Runyon around $400,000 in kickbacks over four years.

Porter also admitted that in 2013, he paid a Quality Oil employee under-the-table cash wages to avoid withholding federal taxes. Failing to collect and pay over federal employment taxes is a crime. Porter paid the employee more than $63,000 in cash.

Porter agreed to forfeit $350,000 to the Internal Revenue Service in connection with the kickback scheme, and $29,851.48 in restitution for his failure to withhold employment taxes.

United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston imposed the sentence.

This sentence stems from an investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, IRS Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service and West Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Meredith George Thomas handled the prosecution.