Ex-eBay exec pleads guilty to terrorising couple with spiders and funeral wreaths

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The final of seven former eBay employees has pleaded guilty in connection with a bizarre harassment campaign pitted by employees of the online behemoth against a middle-aged couple in suburban Massachusetts – using everything from pornographic magazines to live insects and a bloody pig face mask. According to the 2020 DOJ release, the eBay team ”executed a three-part harassment campaign, which included the defendants sending anonymous and disturbing deliveries to the victims’ home; sending private Twitter messages and public tweets criticizing the newsletter’s content and threatening to visit the victims in Natick; and traveling to Natick to surveil the victims and install a GPS tracking device on their car. The harassment campaign also included online posts inviting the public for sexual encounters at the Steiners’ home, in addition to sending live spiders, cockroaches and other horrifying deliveries. The 2020 indictment alleged that “Baugh convened meetings to plan and coordinate the various parts of the harassment campaign; directed Harville to travel with him to Boston for an ‘op’ targeting the victims and their website; directed Stockwell to ‘make up’ allegations that the victims had made direct threats to eBay, the company’s CEO and its employees as cover in case the surveillance team was stopped.” It also alleged that “Harville flew from California to Boston intending to place the victims under surveillance; attempted to install a GPS tracking device on the victims’ car; purchased tools intending to break in to the victims’ garage; lied to an eBay investigator who was responding to the Natick Police’s request for assistance; and deleted evidence from his company-issued cell phone after learning of the criminal investigation.” The Steiners filed a lawsuit last July against eBay and several employees, including former CEO Devin Wenig, describing a conspiracy to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them” in order to “stifle their reporting on eBay”.