Mariner East Pipeline Staff Charged With Bribery, Conspiracy In "Buy-A-Badge" Security Scam

Security personnel for the controversial Mariner East pipeline engaged in an illegal “buy-a-badge scheme,” recruiting state constables to act as private guards at local construction sites and taking steps to obscure payments to them from public scrutiny, Chester County District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan said Tuesday.

Hogan’s office brought criminal charges against Frank Recknagel, 59, the head of security for pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners, and four security contractors hired by the firm: Nikolas McKinnon, 39; Michael Boffo, 59; James Murphy, 61; and Richard Lester, 71. All were charged with bribery, conspiracy, and related offenses. They are accused of paying 19 constables more than $230,000 over two years to improperly patrol the pipeline route while wearing their uniforms and badges and carrying their firearms to act “as a deterrent,” according to court documents.

“This is a pretty simple case,” Hogan said in a statement. “State constables sold their badges and official authority. Energy Transfer bought those badges and authority, then used them as a weapon to intimidate citizens.”

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McKinnon and Boffo are affiliated with TigerSwan LLC, which is in litigation over accusations it operated without a license while working as a contractor for Energy Transfer to help secure the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, a site roiled by protests in 2016. In the affidavits of probable cause for Tuesday’s arrests, detectives said Recknagel, the head of security for Energy Transfer, arranged to “offshore” the hiring of the constables through TigerSwan and Raven Knights. Recknagel hid the payments to the constables through a “shell game," investigators said: He sent their payments to JAB Inspections, another Energy Transfer subcontractor, which had “no operational control over the security team." JAB then forwarded the payment to Raven Knights.

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https://www.inquirer.com/news/mariner-east-pipeline-workers-state-constables-chester-county-tom-hogan-20191203.html