In a story so outlandish that it could only happen in 2020, six former eBay employees are being charged with charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses after they waged an extensive campaign of threats and disturbing deliveries against the editor and publisher of an online newsletter because they were unhappy with the newsletter's coverage of eBay.
James Baugh eBay's former senior director of safety & security, David Harville, eBay's former director of global resiliency, and four other executive employees (Stephanie Popp, Brian Gilbert, Stephanie Stockwell, and Veronica Zea,) sent several disturbing things including a funeral wreath, a bloody pig mask, and live spiders and cockroaches to the Natick, MA man and his wife.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said to WBZ Boston:
"This was a determined, systematic effort by senior employees of a major company to destroy the lives of a couple in Natick all because they published content that company executives didn't like."
"For a while they succeeded, psychologically devastating these victims for weeks as they desperately tried to figure out what was going on and stop it."
6 eBay Executives And Employees Charged With Sending Threats, Bloody Pig Mask To Natick Couplewww.youtube.com
The executives were reportedly inspired by the film Johnny Be Good, where colleges attempt to lure in a rising high school football star by bribing him with money, goods and even their coach's wife.
"The eBay employees' harassment included sending the couple 'disturbing deliveries' including a bloody pig mask, a box of live cockroaches, and a funeral wreath. They also allegedly traveled to Massachusetts to conduct 'covert surveillance' of the victims"https://t.co/qLPhXonb1o
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 15, 2020
This isn't the half of it.
This couple was harassed by six eBay employees, receiving all of this stuff, for... writing an email newsletter that was *sometimes* critical of eBay.https://t.co/qLPhXonb1o pic.twitter.com/QEvjptFACS
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 15, 2020
A lot of these companies have intelligence arms to... prevent and help solve the exact sorts of crimes these eBay intelligence employees were allegedly committing.https://t.co/Wjdd8RktvV
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 15, 2020
It gets even crazier!
The Ebay employees' alleged plan was to harass the couple for months and later "proclaim that eBay noticed the harassment and offer to help them get out of" it.
More from @Tom_Winter.https://t.co/eyQf7F3lpc pic.twitter.com/sY5vcTQRQ9
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 15, 2020
According to the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, the executives also sent threatening anonymous messages to the couple, including "allegedly [sending] private Twitter messages and public tweets criticizing the newsletter's content and threatening to visit the victims in Natick."
The company's strategy was to harass the couple, pretend to notice the harassment later and then offer to step in and help to try and influence how the couple wrote about eBay in their online newsletter.
I thought I was no longer capable of being shocked. I mean, placing an ad encouraging strangers to show up at their house could've gotten someone killed. Unreal.
— George (@GeorgeLovell3) June 15, 2020
Explains a lot
"Gilbert was a senior manager of special operations for eBay's global security team.
Gilbert is also a former police captain"
— The67083 (@The67083) June 15, 2020
WTF
— Elysium Hynes (@ElyHynes) June 15, 2020
pic.twitter.com/NxPAf8Jeoj
— Ashley Jane (@janericbrand) June 15, 2020
An internal investigation by eBay uncovered the actions, most of which had been perpetrated within the security team, and fired those employees in September.
Among their other plans were to "break into the couple's garage to install a GPS device on their car."
Former police captain lmao
— flavio (@MrCatinella) June 15, 2020
Absolutely criminally disgusting
— The REAL MillerFinch (@REALmillerfinch) June 15, 2020
That's got to be federal
— Joshua House (@wanderingyankee) June 15, 2020
ok well that explains why ebay has been so aggressive with their "we're helping keep small businesses alive, we're good guys" ad campaign lately lmfao
— e-girl barbie🌹ᵇˡᵐ (@bimbonic) June 15, 2020
The couple in question remain anonymous, as the investigation is still ongoing.
The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office did not confirm nor deny that the prosecutors were looking into pressing further charges.
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