(Additional Documents and Videos at end of Article)
A Journalist’s FOIA Opens a Federal Window
On June 27, 2025, I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), seeking records about myself. I knew federal law enforcement had been circulating information on me. What I didn’t know was how deep the coordination ran.
After nearly two months of stonewalling, the Marshals Service responded on August 22, 2025. They “located” 14 pages of responsive records. They withheld names, details, and routing information under a laundry list of exemptions.
What they gave me was enough to confirm the bigger picture: the federal government has been running an organized campaign to monitor, defame, and suppress me for doing my job as an investigative journalist and constitutional rights activist.
Federal BOLOs Against a Journalist
The records included “District Alert Notices” and BOLOs (“Be On the Lookout” bulletins) that plastered my name, my photograph, and my personal identifiers across the federal system.
I was labeled a “First Amendment auditor” — as if exercising constitutional rights is itself a security threat. My private data, including driver’s license number, date of birth, height, and weight, was distributed to Marshals and Court Security Officers in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Utah. I was flagged as someone who should be “closely monitored” in federal courthouses, even though every one of my actions documented in these reports was lawful, peaceful, and backed up by video evidence.
This is not crime control. This is message control.
The False “Mayor Stalking” Narrative
The most damning revelation is the repetition of a false narrative that I was convicted of stalking the mayor of Oxford, Mississippi.
That is a half truth and a whole lie.
In 2022, I entered a plea under coercion — a completely manufactured case built on fabricated evidence and the exploitation of a family crisis. It was never about the mayor. I simply entered City Hall as a Journalist, video documenting my presence, and intent on making a public records request through the City Clerk prior to leaving. This was somehow twisted and mangled into an Aggravated Stalking Charge based on a completely sham restraining order taken out 5 years prior in order to prevent me from speaking at City Hall on June 6, 2017 which just so happened to be Election Day for Mayor Robyn Tannehill. I now make the claim with confidence this “restraining order” was the result of Fraud Committed on The Court by and through the Tannehill’s based upon complete lies, exaggeration, procedural error, and evidence more recently obtained. Even more bizarre was the fact that I was railroaded with this Aggravated Stalking Charge and held without bond like the most dangerous of criminals despite the fact that during my short (less than 20-minute) presence in Oxford, MS City Hall I never asked for Mayor Tannehill and never saw Mayor Tannehill. My purpose for being there was 100% constitutionally protected under the First Amendment and yet I was being openly persecuted as if I had murdered somebody. Not only did the County know I had a newborn son fighting for his life in the NICU at Lebonheur Hospital in Memphis, TN, but my PUBLIC DEFENDER, Mitchell Driskell, actually withdrew as my attorney weeks into representing me and joined the law firm of Rhea Tannehill, the HUSBAND of Mayor Robyn Tannehill. Two weeks after that, my wife gets terminated from her place of employment. Quite Coincidental huh? Particularly with me stuck in jail with no-bond AND having 4 minor children to support (One in the NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit. Yet the USMS records repeat this fiction as fact, treating it as justification for painting me as a danger all while the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice refused to answer the cry for help, showing a complete dereliction of an absolutely crucial duty. Read more on what happened here and view the video
This is not a mistake. It is defamation elevated to the federal level, repeated by government officials who either knew or should have known the truth.
Surveillance as Retaliation
The records show that federal officials didn’t stop at spreading falsehoods. They surveilled me. They logged my presence in courthouses. They tracked my livestreams and YouTube videos. They filed incident reports that described me not as a journalist covering public institutions, but as a suspicious actor to be watched.
This echoes the Eleventh Circuit’s warning in Bennett v. Hendrix (2005), where the court condemned campaigns of harassment, intimidation, and database misuse aimed at silencing private citizens. The law is clear: retaliation that would chill a “person of ordinary firmness” from exercising First Amendment rights is unconstitutional.
My FOIA results prove that this is exactly what federal agencies have been doing.
Why the Redactions Matter
The Marshals Service hid behind Exemptions (b)(6), (b)(7)(C), (b)(7)(E), and (b)(7)(F). That means:
They redacted names of officials who authored or forwarded these defamatory alerts. They concealed routine routing codes and URLs, pretending that these are “law enforcement techniques.” They withheld details under safety exemptions to protect the very people misusing their positions to target me.
Transparency laws weren’t written to protect government misconduct. They were written to expose it. Every redaction here shields wrongdoing.
The Bigger Picture
This isn’t about one FOIA request. It’s about a pattern:
Lafayette County and Oxford officials fabricate charges. Federal agencies adopt those falsehoods and hardwire them into nationwide databases. Journalistic activity is reframed as suspicious activity. Redactions then shield the names of those responsible, insulating them from accountability.
This is cross-jurisdictional retaliation. It is surveillance abuse. It is unconstitutional on its face.
Where It Goes From Here
I have filed an appeal with the DOJ Office of Information Policy, demanding that these names and withheld details be released. If they deny, I will take this to federal court.
But this fight isn’t just mine. It’s about whether federal law enforcement can label peaceful journalists as threats, spread false narratives unchecked, and weaponize information systems against citizens who expose corruption.
The First Amendment doesn’t guarantee comfort for government officials. It guarantees freedom for the people.
The U.S. Marshals Service forgot that. And now, thanks to FOIA, the record of their misconduct is public.
This is far from Reardon’s first run with Corrupt Agencies and Institutional Rot. Here are a few stories you should check out:
HERE IS THE FOIA RESPONSE BY THE US MARSHALS GENERAL COUNSEL:
HERE ARE THE HEAVILY REDACTED FOIA DOCUMENTS:
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