A New Hampshire man has been sentenced to greater than two years in jail for his function in harassing and intimidating New Hampshire public radio journalists whose houses have been vandalized after the station revealed materials important of an area businessman.
The person, Tucker Cockerline, 33, of Salem, New York, was sentenced Aug. 27 in federal courtroom in Boston to 27 months in jail and three years of supervised launch, Massachusetts prosecutors mentioned. said Thursday.
Mr Cockerline was a part of a gaggle of males who scrawled vulgar and threatening language on the houses of the reporter, her mother and father and her editor, prosecutors mentioned. The lads additionally threw stones and bricks by means of the home windows of a number of the houses.
Three different males — Eric LaBarge, Michael Waselchuk and Keenan Saniathan — have been charged in reference to the harassment.
Mr. Labarge and Mr. Waselchuck have pleaded responsible and are awaiting sentencing. Mr Saniatan is anticipated to plead responsible on Thursday, prosecutors mentioned.
Mr. Cockerline pleaded responsible in December to 1 rely of conspiracy to commit stalking by interstate journey and utilizing a facility for interstate commerce.
A lawyer for Mr. Waselchuck declined to remark Sunday. New Hampshire Public Radio and attorneys for the opposite three males didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Sunday.
The harassment began after New Hampshire Public Radio publish a story in March 2022 that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to Eric Spofford, who owned the biggest chain of drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities within the state.
Mr. Spofford was not named within the federal felony grievance or the information launch from the U.S. legal professional’s workplace, and he mentioned he had nothing to do with the vandalism.
Mr. Spofford filed a defamation go well with in opposition to New Hampshire Public Radio, however a decide dismissed the go well with in December 2023.
The decide, Daniel St. Hiller of Rockingham County Superior Courtroom, mentioned in an order that he reviewed practically 3,000 paperwork detailing the station’s reviews and mentioned they contained “completely no proof of falsehood.” The New Hampshire Business Review reported.
Mr. Spofford and his lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Sunday.
Lauren Chulian, a senior reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio, reported and wrote the story about Mr. Spofford.
A month after publication, the house the place Ms. Chuljan lived, her mother and father’ house, and the house of her editor, Daniel Barrick, have been vandalized.
Federal prosecutors mentioned Mr. LaBarge, whom they described as a “shut private affiliate” of Mr. Spofford, requested Mr. Cockerline to vandalize Ms. Kouliyan’s former house in Hanover, N.H.
In April 2022, Mr Cockerline wrote a vulgar phrase in massive crimson letters on the entrance door of the house and threw a brick by means of an exterior window. Two different homes have been equally vandalized that evening.
On the evening of Might 20, 2022, Mr. Cockerline spray-painted a vulgar phrase on the facade of Ms. Chouljian’s mother and father’ house in Hampstead, New York, and left a brick on the bottom subsequent to their entrance door, prosecutors mentioned.
Hours later, Mr. Waselchuck threw a brick by means of the window of Miss Chooljian’s house in Melrose, Mass., and wrote the phrase “Simply The Starting” in massive crimson letters on the entrance of the home.
New Hampshire Public Radio gained a nationwide Edward R. Murrow Award for its investigation of Ms. Chouljian. The station later launched a podcast known as “13th step” concerning the report and the next harassment. The podcast was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize.
