N.H. man sentenced for conspiracy to harass and intimidate two NHPR journalists – The Boston Globe

A New Hampshire man was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison last week for his involvement in the harassment and intimidation of two New Hampshire Public Radio journalists, officials said.

Tucker Cockerline, 33, of Salem, N.H., was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in the 2022 conspiracy, which included the vandalism of the homes of the reporters and one reporter’s parents with bricks, large rocks, and red spray paint on five separate occasions, the US attorney’s office said in a statement Thursday.

Cockerline was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in June 2023, and he pleaded guilty last December in federal court in Boston to conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce, prosecutors said.

He was one of four men indicted in connection with the conspiracy, alongside Eric Labarge, Michael Waselchuck, and Keenan Saniatan, prosecutors said.

Labarge and Waselchuck have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Saniatan is expected to plead guilty this month, prosecutors said.

The harassment and vandalism began after one of the journalists published an article in March 2022 detailing allegations against a former New Hampshire businessperson, prosecutors said. A second NHPR journalist contributed to the article.

Though prosecutors didn’t identify the reporters or the businessperson, the case involves NHPR’s reporting on allegations of sexual misconduct against Eric Spofford, founder of Granite Recovery Centers, a network of addiction rehabilitation centers in New Hampshire, the Globe reported.

Spofford has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any crimes related to NHPR’s reporting or the harassment campaign, the Globe reported.

In 2022, after the article was published, Labarge, who officials called “a close personal associate of” the businessperson, along with Cockerline, Waselchuck, and allegedly Saniatan, “agreed to harass and intimidate” the two journalists and their immediate family members, prosecutors said.

Cockerline and Saniatan were allegedly “solicited” to commit the vandalism and harassment by Labarge, prosecutors said.

On the night of April 24, 2022, Cockerline spray-painted a vulgar term related to female anatomy in large red letters on the front door of the first journalist’s former home in Hanover, N.H., and threw a brick through a window, the statement said.

Also that night, Saniatan allegedly spray-painted the same vulgar term on the front door of the second journalist’s home in Concord, N.H., and threw a large rock at the home, prosecutors said. He then “allegedly threw a softball-sized rock” through a window and spray-painted the same word on the first journalist’s parents’ home in Hampstead, N.H., according to prosecutors.

On May 20, 2022, Cockerline spray-painted the same word on the first journalist’s parents’ home and left a brick on the ground near the front door, prosecutors said.

Several hours later, Waselchuck, who Cockerline recruited, threw a brick through a window of the first journalist’s Melrose home and left a warning reading, “JUST THE BEGINNING!” in large red letters, prosecutors said.

Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.

Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com. Follow her @Ava_Berger_.