Man Sentenced to 27 Months in Prison for Harassing Journalists
The New York Times (archive.ph)
By Amanda Holpuch
2024-09-01 20:58:54GMT
A frame from a surveillance video showing a man throwing a brick at the home of a New Hampshire Public Radio journalist in Melrose, Mass.Credit...Middlesex County District Attorney's Office
A New Hampshire man was sentenced to more than two years in prison for his role in the harassment and intimidation of New Hampshire Public Radio journalists whose homes were vandalized after the radio station published a story that was critical of a local businessman.
The man, Tucker Cockerline, 33, of Salem, N.H., was sentenced on Aug. 27 in federal court in Boston to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release, the U.S. attorney’s office for Massachusetts said on Thursday.
Mr. Cockerline was part of a group of men who spray-painted vulgar and threatening language on the homes of a reporter, her parents and her editor, prosecutors said. The men also threw rocks and bricks through the windows of some of the homes.
Three other men — Eric Labarge, Michael Waselchuck and Keenan Saniatan — have been indicted in connection to the harassment.
Mr. Labarge and Mr. Waselchuck have both pleaded guilty and are waiting to be sentenced. Mr. Saniatan is expected to plead guilty on Thursday, prosecutors said.
Mr. Cockerline pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce.
A lawyer for Mr. Waselchuck declined to comment on Sunday and lawyers for the other three men did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
“Journalists are accustomed to covering crime rather than becoming victims of crime,” Jim Schachter, the president and chief executive of New Hampshire Public Radio, said on Sunday. “If this sentencing and the attention this case has drawn discourage others from attacking journalists just doing their jobs, a greater good will have come from this ugly episode.”
The harassment began after New Hampshire Public Radio published a story in March 2022 that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct against Eric Spofford, who had owned the state’s largest network of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers.
Mr. Spofford is not named in the federal criminal complaint or the news release from the U.S. attorney’s office, and he has said that he had nothing to do with the vandalism.
Mr. Spofford filed a defamation lawsuit against New Hampshire Public Radio but a judge dismissed the case in December 2023.
The judge, Daniel St. Hilaire of Rockingham County Superior Court, said in an order that he had reviewed nearly 3,000 documents that detailed the station’s reporting and said that they “contain absolutely no evidence of falsity,” The New Hampshire Business Review reported.
Mr. Spofford and his lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Lauren Chooljian, a senior reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio, reported and wrote the story about Mr. Spofford.
A month after it was published, a home where Ms. Chooljian used to live, her parents’ home and the home of her editor, Daniel Barrick, were vandalized.
Federal prosecutors said that Mr. Labarge, whom they described as “a close personal associate” of Mr. Spofford, asked Mr. Cockerline to vandalize Ms. Chooljian’s former home in Hanover, N.H.
In April 2022, Mr. Cockerline spray-painted in large, red letters a vulgar word on the front door of the home and threw a brick through an exterior window. Two other homes were vandalized in a similar way that night.
On the night of May 20, 2022, Mr. Cockerline spray-painted a vulgar word on the front of the home of Ms. Chooljian’s parents in Hampstead, N.H., and left a brick on the ground by their front door, prosecutors said.
Hours later, Mr. Waselchuck threw a brick through the window of Ms. Chooljian’s home in Melrose, Mass., and spray-painted the phrase “Just The Beginning” in large, red letters on the front of the house.
New Hampshire Public Radio earned a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Ms. Chooljian’s investigation. The station later released a podcast called “The 13th Step” about the reporting and the harassment that followed. The podcast was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2024.
A journalist's home was vandalized after she reported on allegations of sexual misconduct against the founder of New Hampshire’s largest network of addiction recovery centers.LAUREN CHOOLJIAN/NYT
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New Hampshire Man Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Harass and Intimidate Two Journalists
US Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts (archive.ph)
2024-08-29 12:57:55GMT
BOSTON – A New Hampshire man was sentenced on Aug. 27, 2024 for his role in a conspiracy to stalk journalists employed by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR). The harassment and intimidation of the victims included the vandalism – on five separate occasions – of the victims’ homes and the home of one of the victims’ parents with bricks, large rocks and red spray paint.
Tucker Cockerline, 33, of Salem, N.H., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Cockerline pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston in December 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce. Cockerline was initially arrested and charged by criminal complaint in June 2023. He was later indicted along with co-defendants Eric Labarge, Michael Waselchuck, and Saniatan. Labarge and Waselchuck have both pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Saniatan is expected to plead guilty in federal court in Boston on Sept. 5, 2024.
In March of 2022, after a year-long investigation, an NHPR journalist (Victim 1) published an article detailing allegations of sexual and other misconduct by a former New Hampshire businessperson (Subject 1). Another NHPR journalist (Victim 2) also contributed to the article, which appeared on NHPR’s website during and after March 2022. In response to this reporting, Labarge – who is a close personal associate of Subject 1 – Cockerline, Waselchuck, and allegedly Saniatan, agreed to harass and intimidate Victims 1 and 2 and their immediate family members by vandalizing their homes in the middle of the night with bricks, rocks and red spray paint.
Specifically, Labarge solicited Cockerline to vandalize Victim 1’s former residence in Hanover, N.H., using a brick and red spray paint. On the evening of April 24, 2022, Cockerline spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front door of the home and threw a brick through an exterior window. Saniatan allegedly agreed with Labarge to vandalize Victim 2’s home in Concord, N.H., and Victim 1’s parents’ home in Hampstead, N.H., using large rocks and red spray paint. On the evening of April 24, 2022, Saniatan allegedly spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front door and threw a large rock at the exterior of Victim 2’s home; and he allegedly threw a softball-sized rock through a front exterior window and spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front of Victim 1’s parents’ home.
Labarge also solicited Cockerline to vandalize Victim 1’s parents’ home in Hampstead, N.H., and Victim 1’s home in Melrose, Mass., using bricks and red spray paint. Cockerline, in turn, recruited Waselchuck to vandalize Victim 1’s residence, providing him with a brick and a can of red spray paint. On the evening of May 20, 2022, Cockerline spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front of Victim 1’s parents’ home, and left a brick on the ground near the front door. Several hours later, Waselchuck threw a brick through an exterior window of Victim 1’s home and painted the phrase “JUST THE BEGINNING” in large red letters on the front of the house.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Concord, Hampstead and Hanover, N.H. Police Departments, the Melrose, Mass. Police Department and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason A. Casey and Torey B. Cummings of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The New York Times (archive.ph)
By Amanda Holpuch
2024-09-01 20:58:54GMT
A frame from a surveillance video showing a man throwing a brick at the home of a New Hampshire Public Radio journalist in Melrose, Mass.Credit...Middlesex County District Attorney's Office
A New Hampshire man was sentenced to more than two years in prison for his role in the harassment and intimidation of New Hampshire Public Radio journalists whose homes were vandalized after the radio station published a story that was critical of a local businessman.
The man, Tucker Cockerline, 33, of Salem, N.H., was sentenced on Aug. 27 in federal court in Boston to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release, the U.S. attorney’s office for Massachusetts said on Thursday.
Mr. Cockerline was part of a group of men who spray-painted vulgar and threatening language on the homes of a reporter, her parents and her editor, prosecutors said. The men also threw rocks and bricks through the windows of some of the homes.
Three other men — Eric Labarge, Michael Waselchuck and Keenan Saniatan — have been indicted in connection to the harassment.
Mr. Labarge and Mr. Waselchuck have both pleaded guilty and are waiting to be sentenced. Mr. Saniatan is expected to plead guilty on Thursday, prosecutors said.
Mr. Cockerline pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce.
A lawyer for Mr. Waselchuck declined to comment on Sunday and lawyers for the other three men did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
“Journalists are accustomed to covering crime rather than becoming victims of crime,” Jim Schachter, the president and chief executive of New Hampshire Public Radio, said on Sunday. “If this sentencing and the attention this case has drawn discourage others from attacking journalists just doing their jobs, a greater good will have come from this ugly episode.”
The harassment began after New Hampshire Public Radio published a story in March 2022 that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct against Eric Spofford, who had owned the state’s largest network of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers.
Mr. Spofford is not named in the federal criminal complaint or the news release from the U.S. attorney’s office, and he has said that he had nothing to do with the vandalism.
Mr. Spofford filed a defamation lawsuit against New Hampshire Public Radio but a judge dismissed the case in December 2023.
The judge, Daniel St. Hilaire of Rockingham County Superior Court, said in an order that he had reviewed nearly 3,000 documents that detailed the station’s reporting and said that they “contain absolutely no evidence of falsity,” The New Hampshire Business Review reported.
Mr. Spofford and his lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Lauren Chooljian, a senior reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio, reported and wrote the story about Mr. Spofford.
A month after it was published, a home where Ms. Chooljian used to live, her parents’ home and the home of her editor, Daniel Barrick, were vandalized.
Federal prosecutors said that Mr. Labarge, whom they described as “a close personal associate” of Mr. Spofford, asked Mr. Cockerline to vandalize Ms. Chooljian’s former home in Hanover, N.H.
In April 2022, Mr. Cockerline spray-painted in large, red letters a vulgar word on the front door of the home and threw a brick through an exterior window. Two other homes were vandalized in a similar way that night.
On the night of May 20, 2022, Mr. Cockerline spray-painted a vulgar word on the front of the home of Ms. Chooljian’s parents in Hampstead, N.H., and left a brick on the ground by their front door, prosecutors said.
Hours later, Mr. Waselchuck threw a brick through the window of Ms. Chooljian’s home in Melrose, Mass., and spray-painted the phrase “Just The Beginning” in large, red letters on the front of the house.
New Hampshire Public Radio earned a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Ms. Chooljian’s investigation. The station later released a podcast called “The 13th Step” about the reporting and the harassment that followed. The podcast was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2024.
A journalist's home was vandalized after she reported on allegations of sexual misconduct against the founder of New Hampshire’s largest network of addiction recovery centers.LAUREN CHOOLJIAN/NYT
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New Hampshire Man Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Harass and Intimidate Two Journalists
US Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts (archive.ph)
2024-08-29 12:57:55GMT
BOSTON – A New Hampshire man was sentenced on Aug. 27, 2024 for his role in a conspiracy to stalk journalists employed by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR). The harassment and intimidation of the victims included the vandalism – on five separate occasions – of the victims’ homes and the home of one of the victims’ parents with bricks, large rocks and red spray paint.
Tucker Cockerline, 33, of Salem, N.H., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Cockerline pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston in December 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce. Cockerline was initially arrested and charged by criminal complaint in June 2023. He was later indicted along with co-defendants Eric Labarge, Michael Waselchuck, and Saniatan. Labarge and Waselchuck have both pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Saniatan is expected to plead guilty in federal court in Boston on Sept. 5, 2024.
In March of 2022, after a year-long investigation, an NHPR journalist (Victim 1) published an article detailing allegations of sexual and other misconduct by a former New Hampshire businessperson (Subject 1). Another NHPR journalist (Victim 2) also contributed to the article, which appeared on NHPR’s website during and after March 2022. In response to this reporting, Labarge – who is a close personal associate of Subject 1 – Cockerline, Waselchuck, and allegedly Saniatan, agreed to harass and intimidate Victims 1 and 2 and their immediate family members by vandalizing their homes in the middle of the night with bricks, rocks and red spray paint.
Specifically, Labarge solicited Cockerline to vandalize Victim 1’s former residence in Hanover, N.H., using a brick and red spray paint. On the evening of April 24, 2022, Cockerline spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front door of the home and threw a brick through an exterior window. Saniatan allegedly agreed with Labarge to vandalize Victim 2’s home in Concord, N.H., and Victim 1’s parents’ home in Hampstead, N.H., using large rocks and red spray paint. On the evening of April 24, 2022, Saniatan allegedly spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front door and threw a large rock at the exterior of Victim 2’s home; and he allegedly threw a softball-sized rock through a front exterior window and spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front of Victim 1’s parents’ home.
Labarge also solicited Cockerline to vandalize Victim 1’s parents’ home in Hampstead, N.H., and Victim 1’s home in Melrose, Mass., using bricks and red spray paint. Cockerline, in turn, recruited Waselchuck to vandalize Victim 1’s residence, providing him with a brick and a can of red spray paint. On the evening of May 20, 2022, Cockerline spraypainted the word “C*NT” in large red letters on the front of Victim 1’s parents’ home, and left a brick on the ground near the front door. Several hours later, Waselchuck threw a brick through an exterior window of Victim 1’s home and painted the phrase “JUST THE BEGINNING” in large red letters on the front of the house.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Concord, Hampstead and Hanover, N.H. Police Departments, the Melrose, Mass. Police Department and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason A. Casey and Torey B. Cummings of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
