A 46-year-old New Hampshire man pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Boston for his role in two conspiracies to harass and intimidate two journalists employed by New Hampshire Public Radio.
The harassment and intimidation of the victims included the vandalism—on five separate occasions—of the victims’ homes and the home of one of the victims’ parents with bricks, large rocks and red spray paint.
Eric Labarge of Nashua, N.H., pleaded guilty to a five-count later indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce; conspiracy to commit stalking using a facility of interstate commerce; stalking using a facility of interstate commerce and aiding and abetting; and two counts of stalking through interstate travel and aiding and abetting. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Oct. 18.
Labarge was arrested and charged in September 2023 along with Tucker Cockerline, Michael Waselchuck and Keenan Saniatan.
In March 2022, an NHPR journalist published an article detailing allegations of sexual and other misconduct by a former New Hampshire businessperson, while another NHPR journalist contributed to the article, which appeared on NHPR’s website. In response to this reporting, Labarge, who is a close personal associate of the businessman, conspired with Cockerline, Waselchuck and, allegedly Saniatan, to harass and intimidate the journalists and their immediate family members.
Among other things, the indictment alleges Labarge solicited Cockerline in April of 2022 to vandalize one reporter’s former residence in Hanover, N.H., using a brick and red spray paint. On the night of April 24, 2022, Cockerline is also charged with spraypainting an expletive in large red letters on the front door and threw a brick through an exterior window of the home;
Around the same time, allegedly working with Labarge, Saniatan allegedly agreed to vandalize the other reporter’s home in Concord, N.H. and the first reporter’s parents’ home in Hampstead, N.H., using large rocks and red spray paint.
In May of 2022, Labarge solicited Cockerline to vandalize the Hampstead, N.H., home and the reporter’s home in Melrose, Mass., using bricks and red spray paint. Cockerline, in turn, recruited Waselchuck to vandalize the home.
Cockerline and Waselchuck have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Saniatan is scheduled for trial on Sept. 9.