Chester County DA investigating new sinkhole, 'hired muscle' on Mariner East pipeline

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (FOX 29) - Days after announcing a criminal investigation into construction on three natural gas pipelines in Chester County, a new sinkhole has emerged and prosecutors are accusing "hired muscle" of intimidating residents near the pipelines.

On Jan. 16, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said his office is investigating because the governor and state utility regulators haven't ensured the construction was being done safely.

On Sunday, a new sinkhole opened up in the Lisa Drive neighborhood along the pipelines, exposing the Mariner East 1 pipeline, which prosecutors say had volatile natural gas liquids pumping through it when it was exposed.

The district attorney's office says it also discovered that "constables from outside of Chester County apparently had been hired by Sunoco to act as a private security force around the pipelines, holding themselves out as acting in an official capacity to people approaching the area of the pipelines."

"At this point, the criminal investigation is widening and deeping, much like the damage being caused by these pipelines," Hogan said in a statement.

In addition to investigating which individuals bear legal responsibility for the sinkholes, the district attorney's office wants to know who hired the alleged constables and "authorized them to act like they have some type of legal authority in Chester County."

"This has the appearance of hired muscle showing up to intimidate citizens," the statement reads.

Detectives say that when a plainclothes officer approached one of the alleged constables, an armed man who flashed a badge at the detective, he admitted that he had been hired as security by Sonoco.

In addition to the new allegations, the district attorney's office is investigating potential crimes including causing or risking a catastrophe, environmental violations and corrupt organizations.

The pipelines have weathered millions of dollars in fines and two temporary shutdown orders from state agencies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.