Those charged include employees from the international security firm TigerSwan.
Susan Phillips reports for StateImpact
The Chester County district attorney alleged Tuesday that Energy Transfer — parent company of Mariner East 2 pipeline builder Sunoco Logistics — hired armed Pennsylvania constables to illegally provide security for the pipeline, then hid how the constables were paid.
DA Tom Hogan said in a news release that he has filed bribery, conspiracy and related charges against Energy Transfer’s security manager, Frank Recknagel; James Murphy and Richard Lester of Raven Knights LLC, a Harrisburg-area security firm; as well as Nikolas McKinnon and Michael Boffo from the international security firm TigerSwan.
“State constables sold their badges and official authority,” Hogan said in the release. “Energy Transfer bought those badges and authority, then used them as a weapon to intimidate citizens. And the defendants attempted to conceal their activity through a maze of companies and payments.”
The charges stem from a criminal investigation Hogan launched in December 2018 following the appearance of sinkholes in West Whiteland Township and an explosion at another Energy Transfer line in Beaver County.
But what began as an investigation of potential environmental crimes quickly included a probe into the security services after a plain-clothed Chester County detective encountered an armed private security guard at a construction site, where the guard tried to prevent the detective from parking on a public street. Residents also reported feeling intimidated by state constables who restricted movement on their own property.
In August, Hogan charged two constables, Michael Robel, 58, of Shamokin in Northumberland County and Kareem Johnson, 47, of Coatesville in Chester County, with ethics violations and other offenses for working as private security guards on the Mariner East site at Lisa Drive, a development in West Whiteland Township.
The constables are elected officials whose tasks include transporting criminal defendants, serving arrest warrants, and in limited circumstances making arrests, Hogan said at the time. They are not allowed to hire themselves out as security guards while working as constables, and must declare any income of $1,300 or more.
Hogan says Energy Transfer’s Security Manager Frank Recknagel engaged in an illegal “buy-a-badge scheme” in which payments to the constables were hidden and difficult to trace back to the company. He says Energy Transfer paid Pennsylvania constables to wear badges and carry guns in order to intimidate residents living along the pipeline.
“There’s a very clear line that has to be drawn between law enforcement who is acting for the public good, and the public good alone, and the corporate employee who is acting for the good of the organization,” Hogan said. “You cannot mix those two together.”
According to the criminal complaint, Recknagel said in an email that it was Energy Transfer’s “unwritten policy” to hire armed law enforcement officials to guard its pipeline projects.
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