Two more former eBay Inc. employees have admitted to their roles in a campaign to terrorize a Massachusetts couple with threatening social...
Two more former eBay Inc. employees have admitted to their roles in a campaign to terrorize a Massachusetts couple with threatening social media messages and disturbing deliveries to their home.
Brian Gilbert, 52, who was senior manager of special operations for eBay's Global Security Team, and Stephanie Stockwell, 26, a former manager of eBay's Global Intelligence Center, pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.
Emails seeking comment were sent to their attorneys on Friday.
They are among seven former eBay employees charged in the scheme to harass the couple, of Natick, who authorities say published an online newsletter with articles that were critical of the company.
Former Santa Clara Police Captain Brian Gilbert, 51 (left), is pictured with Philip Cooke, 55 (right), also a former captain on that force. Along with fellow former employee Stephanie Stockwell, 26, Gilbert and Cooke pleaded guilty for their roles in a harassment scheme against a Massachusetts couple that was critical of eBay
The FBI in Boston released images showing some of the disturbing items that were allegedly sent by eBay staffers to the editor of an e-commerce newsletter as part of a twisted campaign of harassment, including a bloody pig mask and a book on grief
The couple, David and Ina Steiner, published an online newsletter on ECommerceBytes.com that was critical of the online auction site.
Five ex-eBay workers pleaded guilty before Gilbert and Stockwell did, including Philip Cooke, 55, who is a former Santa Clara police captain - as is Gilbert.
Federal prosecutors in Boston said that in August 2019, after the couple posted an article about litigation against eBay, two company executives sent or forwarded messages saying it was time to 'take down' the couple.
The executives included former Chief Executive Officer Devin Wenig, who a person familiar with the matter has said is the 'Executive 1' identified in court papers.
Philip Cooke, 55, of San Jose, California, another former captain with the Santa Clara force, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses in the scheme Tuesday
United States District Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling (second from left) announces charges of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and witness tampering against six ex-eBay executives (File photo from June 2020)
Wenig has not been charged and has denied knowing about the scheme.
The alleged harassment included sending the couple anonymous, threatening messages, disturbing deliveries - including a box of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a preserved fetal pig and a bloody pig mask - and spying on the victims.
After the bloody pig mask was delivered, Ina Steiner received a message on Twitter saying: 'DO I HAVE UR ATTENTION NOW????,' court documents show.
Seven former eBay employees, among them high-level executives, have pleaded guilty in a harassment scheme that targeted David and Ina Steiner (above), the founders of ECommerceBytes.com
Prosecutors say Stockwell used an anonymous email account to order live spiders to be sent to the couple.
The couple was also sent a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, prosecutors said.
Authorities say Gilbert admitted to drafting threatening Twitter messages targeting the couple.
He also proposed bringing documents that would make the couple 'look crazy' to police who were helping the couple.
After they started getting the threats and strange deliveries, the Steiners spotted a surveillance team that had flown in from California, and they contacted police in Natick.
In texts with his co-conspirators, prosecutors alleged, former Santa Clara cop Gilbert said he falsely told police that the surveillance team had nothing to do with eBay.
The scheme also involved pornographic magazines with the husband's name on them sent to their neighbor's house and plans to break into the couple's garage to install a GPS device on their car, prosecutors say.
Joseph Bonavolonta, the FBI special agent leading the case, said the group was inspired by the movie Johnny Be Good, a 1988 sports comedy in which friends arranged a series of 'unwanted and distracting items and people' delivered to their football coach's home, including an elephant and a male stripper.
In September 2019, eBay fired seven workers, among them high-ranking executives, after learning of the alleged plan to terrorize the blogger
Each charge carried a maximum sentence of five years. Stockwell's plea deal is expected to land her a two-year prison sentence, while Gilbert's is expected to result in sentence of 30-37 months.
The seven employees were fired by eBay in September 2019.
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