New bombshell in Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen scandal
The Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department canceled a lease concession agreement with Swadley’s Foggy Bottom Kitchen, it was announced Monday. The agreement was canceled due to "suspected fraudulent activity and questionable business practices," the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department said in a news release.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — A new bombshell has presented itself in the Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen scandal.
The State Fire Marshal reported that Swadley's never obtained building permits for any of its Foggy Bottom restaurants, citing numerous "life safety issues" with the buildings.
The Oklahoma State Fire Marshal report dates back to 2020, when a fire marshal agent, described as Agent Beebe, discovered its office had not received a permit for the new Foggy Bottom Kitchen restaurant at Roman Nose.
According to the report, the Vice President of Swadley's then told the agent that, "no permits had been applied for... and that they didn't submit plans on this restaurant or any of the other restaurants recently opened at state parks owned by the state of Oklahoma."
After a quick inspection, the report shows the agent "advised them of code violations and life safety issues that were found."
The report reads, "it was noted that certain emergency lights and sprinkler heads were blocked by décor and building material. It was noted that the fire alarm for the entire facility was in trouble mode. It was noted that new deep frying appliances had been installed with out the proper system review and that a deep fryer was not protected by a required extinguishing system."
According to the report, later that same day, Brent Swadley, owner of the restaurant chain, contacted the agent saying: "this is bigger than you, and there are more politics at play here than you could ever understand... Governor Stitt reached out to me to put my restaurants in his state parks."
"Mr. Swadley also explained that any documents that I submitted to him, will be forwarded to Governor Stitt, and that I will have to answer to Governor Stitt on the matter," Agent Beebe stated in the report.
According to Agent Beebe in the report, Swadley said, "you can deal with the governor and Jerry Winchester (with OTRD), I'll just be the middle man."
Later that same day, Agent Beebe is then contacted by Oklahoma Deputy Director of Tourism, Gino DeMarco.
Agent Beebe said in the report, "Mr. DeMarco hinted that he knows that the laws of Oklahoma don't really apply to the State of Oklahoma itself, and that they don't have to permit, or submit plans to the state fire marshal by order of their general legal counsel."
Agent Beebe then said in the report, "Mr. DeMarco then stated several times 'what are we really after here, are we really after code compliance, what will it take for this to be taken care of, and satisfy all parties, can we just have an inspector verify that the violations you noticed are correct and not worry about the plans?'"
Fox 25 asked Assistant State Fire Marshal James Fullingim what he thought about that statement.
"That's not the way we do things, no. We're after code compliance," Fullingim said. "A simple inspection is not going to make this happen."
Fox 25 went on to ask if Fullingim felt that DeMarco was potentially hinting toward some kind of quid pro quo type scenario, to which Fullingim said he had never met DeMarco, so he couldn't comment.
Fox 25 reached out to Gino Demarco to get his reaction, but never got a hold of him.
The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department issued this statement to Fox 25:
The statements made by Mr. DeMarco do not reflect the department’s commitment to public safety. When the department became aware of foggy bottom kitchen’s failure to secure the legally required inspections and permits outlined in the terms of the agreement, department staff immediately began work with the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal to ensure all restaurant locations were brought into compliance. Every aspect of this agreement is being investigated and any violations of state law will be reported to the appropriate authorities.
Taking a look at the original contract between Swadley's and the state of Oklahoma, the contract does state the "Lessee (Swadley's) will obtain all required inspections and permits required by law,"
Also, according to a open records request, Swadley's invoiced the state in the thousands for building permits.
Fullingim says right now, none of the restaurants are up to code or permitted.
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