A Salem, New Hampshire man was sentenced to more than two years in prison, and three years of supervised release, for his role in a conspiracy to stalk two New Hampshire Public Radio journalists, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Massachusetts.
Tucker Cockerline, 33, pleaded guilty in a Boston federal court in December to "conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce."
He was part of a group of New Hampshire men who vandalized the journalists' homes, and one of their parent's homes, throwing bricks and large rocks through windows and writing threatening messages in red spray paint, according to prosecutors.
Cockerline was arrested in June 2023 and indicted in September along with Eric Labarge, Michael Waselchuck and Keenan Saniatan. Labarge and Waselchuck have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Saniatan is due in court on Sept. 5 and expected to plead guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
The case stems from an article published in March 2022 by NHPR journalist Lauren Chooljian. She detailed allegations of sexual assault and harassment by the founder of New Hampshire’s largest network of addiction treatment centers, Eric Spofford. Following the story, Chooljian's home in Melrose, Massachusetts, her former home in New Hampshire, as well as the homes of her parents and her editor, Dan Barrick, were vandalized on five separate occasions.
Prosecutors say that Labarge was a close friend of Spofford, and that Labarge allegedly solicited Cockerline to vandalize Chooljian's parents' home and her home. Cockerline then allegedly solicited Waselchuck to help. On May 20, 2022, Cockerline spraypainted a swear on Chooljian's parents' house and left a brick near the door. Hours later, prosecutors allege Waselchuck threw a brick through a window of Chooljian's Melrose home and wrote “JUST THE BEGINNING” in red spray paint on the front of the house.
Spofford sued Chooljian, Barrick, another NHPR journalist and the station itself for defamation in 2022 following the publication of the story. The suit also named sources quoted in the story. The case was dismissed after a New Hampshire judge ruled that the suit lacked evidence.
NHPR's investigation and subsequent podcast, The 13th Step, which also touches on the legal case and the vandalism, have won a series of awards. The project was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize earlier this year and earned earned a duPont-Columbia Award and a national Edward R. Murrow Award.
