First Energy Spokesperson: Barbour County incident involving gun a rare, traumatic occurrence

MOATSVILLE, W.Va. — Instances where Mon Power employees are held at gunpoint by disgruntled customers, like what happened earlier this week in Barbour County, are thankfully rare.

“Very rarely, a customer may display a gun or say they have gun but no one can recall this type of thing,” said Todd Meyers, a spokesperson with Mon Power’s parent company First Energy. “It’s completely unacceptable.”

David Allen Taft Jr., 24, of Moatsville, was arrested Tuesday after police said he fired a gun at a Mon Power employee who had come to turn the power off at the Jack Reed Road home after there was a failure to make payments.

In a statement submitted by the employee, Taft is alleged to have forced the power to be turned back on at gunpoint, fired multiple shots near him and chased the employee off the property with an ax.

Meyers said the company will be fully cooperating in any way to assist in the prosecution.

“Our employees at Mon Power, they are our number one asset and their safety is our top concern. Any type of threat of violence or assault, anything against our employees, we have and we will pursue every avenue at our disposal through the law to resolve.”

Meanwhile, the employee who was victimized is said to be doing well after going through the traumatic experience.

“He was doing fine emotionally and physically yesterday,” Meyers said. “I think they had him working, but he wasn’t going out in the field yesterday. I think they’ll try to ease him back into that type of thing. As you can imagine, it’s extremely traumatic.”

The company will also assist him in preparing to testify against Taft and will provide a security escort to any hearings he may be requested at.

While such an incident occurring is rare, Mon Power employees in the field do receive training on how to deal with hostile customers.

The bulk of that training reminds employees to never escalate a potentially dangerous situation and to leave if at any point they feel threatened.

“There’s no need to continue either any work to terminate the service or have a discussion with a property owner,” Meyers said. “If they feel threatened, they are to leave. When they leave and they get to a safe place, they call supervisors who in turn may talk to local law enforcement, which was the case on Monday.”

For future situations, Meyers is hopeful that customers behind on payments will avoid violent confrontations.

“That’s not going to ward away the trouble, it’s only going to make it worse. Let’s not let it get to this point. Let’s talk to out customer service people that will set up a reasonable plan to catch up on your bills.”

Taft faces charges of kidnapping and wanton endangerment while remaining jailed at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on $100,000 cash-only bond.





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