BOSTON (WHDH/AP) — Four former employees of eBay are scheduled to plead guilty next month in connection with a cyberstalking campaign that authorities say terrorized a Natick couple with threats and disturbing deliveries, including a bloody pig mask, funeral wreaths and live insects.
James Baugh, of San Jose, California, who was eBay’s senior director of safety & security, and David Harville, of New York City, who was eBay’s director of global resiliency, face charges of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. The other former eBay employees charged are Stephanie Popp, former senior manager of global intelligence; Brian Gilbert, former senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security Team; Stephanie Stockwell, former manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center; and Veronica Zea, a former eBay contractor who worked as an intelligence analyst in the Global Intelligence Center.
Out of the six people charged, four of them will be entering a guilty plea on Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. via Zoom in Boston federal court, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office announced Wednesday. They did not specify which suspects would be pleading guilty.
The former eBay employees allegedly decided to wage an extensive campaign against the couple after becoming upset about an online newsletter published on the couple’s website in August 2019 about a lawsuit filed by eBay accusing Amazon of poaching its sellers.
Along with sending the couple disturbing items, they also sent pornographic magazines with the husband’s name on it to their neighbor’s house and planned to break into the couple’s garage to install a GPS device on their car, officials said.
In addition, the employees set up fake social media accounts to send threatening messages to the couple, posted the couple’s names and address online, and advertised things like yard sales, encouraging strangers to knock on the door if they weren’t outside, according to court documents.
Authorities said the staff lied to police about eBay’s involvement in the cyberstalking campaign, and lied to company lawyers about their roles.
Four former employees of #eBay are scheduled to plead guilty on Oct. 8 at 2pm via zoom in federal court in #Boston. The defendants are charged w/ participating in a cyberstalking campaign that targeted a Massachusetts couple.
— U.S. Attorney Massachusetts (@DMAnews1) September 23, 2020
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