Swadley's Bar-B-Q owner Brent Swadley, two others indicted, charged with conspiracy, fraud
The state's multicounty grand jury on Thursday indicted Brent Swadley over his controversial operation of restaurants at state parks.
Swadley, the owner of Swadley's Bar-B-Q, is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the state and five counts of presenting fraudulent claims to the state. He is 53.
The grand jury alleged he knowingly presented fraudulent invoices from Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen LLC during a conspiracy that lasted from Oct. 8, 2019, to April 25, 2022.
"We absolutely deny any wrongdoing," his attorney, Mack Martin, said Thursday. "We will rely on 12 people to make the right decision. Swadley's stepped up to the plate for Oklahoma when nobody else in the state would."
Swadley's developed and operated Foggy Bottom Kitchen cafes at six state parks. The first one opened in 2020 during the pandemic. The last opened in 2022.
"The indictments issued today contain serious charges and will be prosecuted by my office on behalf of the People of Oklahoma," Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a news release.
Among the fraudulent invoices was one involving two used food smokers, according to the indictment.
Also indicted on all six felony counts were Curtis Ray Breuklander and Timothy Raymond Hooper. Their attorneys had no immediate comment.
Breuklander, 49, of Edmond, has previously been identified as a whistleblower in the case. Hooper was recently listed as the chief operating officer for Swadley's.
The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department in April 2022 canceled its agreement with Swadley's Bar-B-Q due to "suspected fraudulent activity and questionable business practices."
Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen countersued, saying the "Tourism Department got exactly what it wanted with rapid construction of first-class restaurants during a pandemic."
The indictment comes days after Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen complained in a new legal filing it is still owed almost $2.6 million.
It is asking an Oklahoma County judge to make the state pay its final invoices and cover its operational losses for fiscal year 2022.
"What happened in this case is clear," Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen told the judge Monday. "Tourism ran up a $4 million budget shortfall, encountered scrutiny, panicked, and made Swadley's FBK the political scapegoat during an election year."
It alleged Gov. Kevin Stitt and Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell "self-servingly supported Tourism's lawsuit so that neither candidate would have to address this political hot potato in an election year."
Both Stitt and Pinnell were reelected.
On the smokers, grand jurors alleged an equipment supplier was directed to fabricate an invoice for two used food smokers.
The supplier was then directed to increase the amount by 30%, according to the indictment. The state was then billed for the smokers, with the supplier's fake invoice attached as support.
The state's lawsuit alleged "Swadley's overcharged the Tourism Department for the reimbursement of two new smokers but delivered used smokers of a different model."
In its most recent legal filing, Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen described the smokers as briefly used. It said there was a waiting list of 14 to 16 months for new smokers because of supply chain breakdowns from the pandemic.
It claimed the Tourism Department agreed "it was only fair that Swadley's FBK be allowed to sell these smokers to Tourism at fair market value."
"Swadley's FBK simply did as Tourism instructed."
Read the indictment of Brent Swadley, Curtis Breuklander and Timothy Hooper
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Swadley's owner, two others indicted on conspiracy, fraud charges
