By Miguel Llanos and Pete Williams
24 April 2012 The first criminal charges in the 2010 BP gulf spill were filed on Tuesday against a former BP engineer accused of intentionally deleting hundreds of text messages about the size of the spill. It’s clear from the court document unsealed with the case that the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the massive BP blowout includes this aspect: Did BP or its employees intentionally understate the amount of oil flowing from the well? Kurt Mix, 50, was arrested earlier Tuesday on two charges of obstruction of justice, and then released on $100,000 bail after a federal court appearance in Houston, Texas. “The department has filed initial charges in its investigation into the Deepwater Horizon disaster against an individual for allegedly deleting records relating to the amount of oil flowing from the Macondo well after the explosion,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. Federal officials said more charges against others are expected. […] In the complaint, Mix is accused of deleting text messages on two occasions “after being repeatedly informed of his obligation to maintain such records.” Most of those messages were later retrieved, the Justice Department said. In one thread, Mix allegedly deleted a string of some 200 messages that had to do with a process dubbed “Top Kill” that was aimed at stopping the spill. […]

Engineer first to face criminal charges in 2010 BP spill via The Oil Drum