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June 15, 2020 04:48 pm

Six Former eBay Employees Charged in Federal Cyberstalking Case Targeting Natick Couple

Six eBay employees including a former police captain in California last year engaged in a relentless campaign of harassment and cyberstalking of a Natick couple that published a newsletter critical of the online retailer, sending items including fly larvae, live spiders, and a bloody pig mask to their home and travelling to Massachusetts to conduct surveillance of the victims in an effort to get them to stop publishing, authorities alleged Monday. From a report: During a news conference, US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said the defendants conducted a "systematic campaign fueled by the resources of a Fortune 500 company to emotionally and psychologically terrorize this middle-aged couple in Natick." Lelling's words were echoed by Joseph R. Bonavolonta, FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's Boston office, who cited the suspects' "elaborate and relentless campaign to stifle the publishers of an online newsletter out of fear that bad publicity would adversely impact" the company. Court papers identify the defendants as James Baugh, David Harville, Stephanie Popp, Brian Gilbert, Stephanie Stockwell, and Veronica Zea. Lelling said Baugh was arrested in New York. It wasn't immediately clear when he'd make his initial appearance in US District Court in Boston. The remaining defendants, including Gilbert, the former police captain, weren't yet in custody as of noontime Monday. According to Lellling, the now-fired eBay officials also sent items including pornography to the couple's neighbors in the couple's names, posted listings on Craigslist urging swingers and couples to come to the Natick couples' home to party every night after 10 pm, and created fake social media accounts to send messages to the couple including one that said, "do I have your attention now?" A complaint filed in the case by FBI Special Agent Mark Wilson said the "campaign included: sending anonymous, threatening communications to the Victims; ordering unwanted and disturbing deliveries to their home, including funeral wreaths and books on surviving the loss of a spouse; and BAUGH, HARVILLE, Zea, and Popp travelling to Natick to surveil the Victims at their home and in their community." It wasn't immediately clear if any of the suspects had retained lawyers to speak on their behalf. According to the complaint, two eBay officials, identified in court papers only as Executive 1 and Executive 2, followed the couple's newsletter with interest. In April 2019, Executive 2 told Executive 1 via text message, "We are going to crush this lady," referring to the woman who put out the newsletter along with her husband, the complaint said.

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