If someone didn't question, or otherwise call out, the pentesters activity, that would have been a blemish against the security training of the org being pentested. This is why pentesters need a way to immediately escalate to the hiring party, to satisfy legit concerns over access and ensure those claiming to be pentesters legitimately are.
In this case IIRC they did have exactly that but were caught up in drama between different factions within the justice system. Unfortunately a few of the people involved behaved in bad faith and thus they got stuck in jail for a while.
The moral of the story, if there is one, is probably a cautionary tale about petty individuals prioritizing workplace politics over ethical integrity.
If you listen to the episode you'll learn that such escalation did occur, and unfortunately the harrassment by local LEO did not cease.