TigerSwan documents (Southern Chester County Regional Police Department)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act, I hereby request the following records:

Any documents from or regarding TigerSwan or James Reese gathered as part of the investigation into the Mariner East bribery scheme.

In December 2019, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan charged several individuals for an alleged scheme to illegally hire 19 constables to guard the Mariner East 2 natural gas pipeline. Two of the individuals were contractors for the private security firm TigerSwan: https://theintercept.com/2019/12/08/energy-transfer-tigerswan-bribery-conspiracy-charges/

TigerSwan is a private security contractor founded by Delta Force veteran James Reese and based in Apex, North Carolina. The firm had previously been sued by the state of North Dakota for providing security services without a license during protests against the Dakota Access pipeline (https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/state-tigerswan-settle-longstanding-dispute-over-dapl-security/article_51011ac0-5dcb-5b7d-aacf-948cd7c2a0ee.html), and Reese is also active in demining (https://www.tigerswan.com/blog/observations-on-humanitarian-assistance-redevelopment-in-syria/) and the oil industry (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/03/delta-crescent-energy-syrian-oil-391033) in Syria.

Please include any files attached to the responsive emails as well. If any part of these documents are exempt from disclosure, please be sure to review and release all reasonably segregable nonexempt portions of responsive documents.

I request that I be properly classified as a media requester. I am an investigative journalist who has written numerous articles on topics of public interest for the Daily Beast, the Asia Times, Responsible Statecraft, the National Interest, Reason Magazine, America Magazine and the Armenian Weekly, and I am requesting these documents in an editorial capacity. Please contact me if you have any questions about my media status.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Matthew Petti