"Four former employees of #eBay are scheduled to plead guilty on Oct. 8 at 2pm via zoom in federal court in #Boston," read a tweet on Wednesday from the official account of the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts. "The defendants are charged w/ participating in a cyberstalking campaign that targeted a Massachusetts couple."
The four former eBay employees have agreed to plead guilty in what federal prosecutors say was a campaign of intimidation and horror.
Feds say the four ex-staffers for eBay shipped live spiders and cockroaches to their victims, a Massachusetts couple who ran an internet newsletter critical of eBay.
Back in June at a news conference when charges were announced, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said the suspects ran a "systematic campaign fueled by the resources of a Fortune 500 company to emotionally and psychologically terrorize this middle-aged couple in Natick."
From the Associated Press:
The four expected to plead guilty are Brian Gilbert, 51; Stephanie Popp, 32; Stephanie Stockwell, 26; and Veronica Zea, 26, according to The Boston Globe.All live in San Jose, California, except for Stockwell, who lives in Redwood City, California.
They are among seven former eBay employees charged in the case, in which the Massachusetts couple had other disturbing items sent to their home, including a funeral wreath and a bloody pig Halloween mask. They are all charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with a witness. Their lawyers either declined to comment or didn't immediately return emails seeking comment Wednesday.
The employees also sent pornographic magazines with the husband's name on them to their neighbor's house, planned to break into the couple's garage to install a GPS device on their car, and posted the couple's names and address online, advertising things like yard sales and encouraging strangers to knock on the door if the pair wasn't outside, officials said.
More at AP: eBay workers who sent spiders to couple to plead guilty
