A former superintendent at West Virginia's Upper Big Branch mine where 29 miners died in an explosion has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison on a federal conspiracy charge.

Gary May was sentenced to 21 months and fined $20,000 Thursday in federal court in Beckley.

May has cooperated with prosecutors in their continuing criminal investigation of the 2010 explosion.

He admitted to charges he defrauded the government through his actions at the mine. Those included disabling a methane gas monitor and falsifying records.