A man pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to harassing and intimidating two journalists from New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR).
Tucker Cockerline, 32, of Salem, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and the use of a facility of interstate commerce. Cockerline was originally arrested and charged in June 2023, along with alleged co-conspirators Michael Waselchuck, Keenan Saniatan, and Eric Labarge.
[ FBI: 3 men used bricks, spray paint to vandalize the homes of 2 New Hampshire journalists ]
The target of the men’s harassment was an NHPR reporter and editor for an article they wrote in March 2022 detailing allegations of sexual and other misconduct against a former New Hampshire businessman.
Cockerline, Waselchuck, and Saniatan conspired with Labarge, a close associate of the former businessperson to retaliate against the journalists for the article, according to the Department of Justice.
Between April and May 2022, it’s alleged the group harassed the reporter and editor on six different occasions:
• On April 24, 2022, around 11:00 p.m. a brick was thrown through a front window of one of the journalist’s (Victim 1) homes in Hanover, N.H., as well as the word “C*NT” spray-painted in large red letters on the front door.
• On April 25, 2022, in the early morning hours the word “C*NT” was spray-painted in large red letters on the front door of the second journalist’s home in Concord, N.H., as well as damaging the outside of the home by throwing large rocks at it.
• That same day, a softball-sized rock was thrown through a front window of Victim 1′s parents’ home in Hampstead, N.H., as well as the word “C*NT” spray-painted in large red letters on a garage door.
• On May 21, 2022, Victim 1′s parents’ home in Hampstead was vandalized a second time. The word “C*NT” was spray-painted in large red letters on a garage door. Although no windows were broken, a brick was found on the ground outside the home as if it had been thrown at the house.
• On that same day, a brick was thrown through a window of Victim 1′s house in Melrose, Mass., as well as the phrase “JUST THE BEGINNING” spray-painted in large red letters on the front of the home.
Cockerline will be sentenced on March 19, 2024.
Each charge in the indictment carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution.
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