Two more ex-eBay employees sentenced for harassment of Natick couple
BOSTON — Two more former employees of eBay Inc. who were convicted of harassing a Natick couple over negative articles the couple wrote on their e-commerce website were sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
With the sentencing of Stephanie Popp, 34, of Louisville, Kentucky, and Stephanie Stockwell, 28, of Redwood City, California, only two others remain to be sentenced among the seven convicted in the harassment campaign.
U.S. District Court Judge William Young sentenced Popp, the former senior manager of global intelligence for eBay, to one year and one day in prison and two years of probation.
Young sentenced Stockwell, former manager of eBay's Global Intelligence Center, to two years of probation and one year of home confinement.
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Federal authorities said the group conducted a harassment campaign against Ina and David Steiner, of Natick. The couple ran an e-commerce website called ecommercebytes.com. Authorities said eBay was angry about negative articles written about the international auction website and that several employees then targeted the couple.
Matthew Baugh, eBay's head of security, was the alleged leader of the harassment campaign, which began Aug. 19, 2019. The Steiners received disturbing items in the mail, such as live insects, a pig fetus and other items. They were also targeted with online threats and "doxxing" — the publishing of private information about an individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent — authorities said.
According to authorities, Stockwell purchased a laptop solely to harass the victims, creating an anonymous email account to have live spiders delivered to the home, as well as a bloody pig mask, a book on surviving the death of a spouse and a funeral wreath.
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She also created a list of "potential suspects" that was provided to the Natick Police Department when it began investigating the harassment, in an effort to throw them off the real trail, authorities said.
Popp, in her role, created fake Twitter accounts and posted Twitter messages, both public and private, that were sent to the couple. The messages included threats and were designed to look like they were from eBay sellers. The Steiners' home address was included, as well as threats to visit the home and confront the couple.
Popp also created a fake Craigslist post inviting people to show up at the Steiners' home for sex.
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All seven suspects were arrested in June 2020, and all have since pleaded guilty to various charges.
Last month, Baugh was sentenced to 57 months in prison, two years of supervised release and hit with a $40,000 fine. Co-conspirator David Harville was sentenced to two years in prison, two years of supervised release and was imposed a $20,000 fine.
Another co-conspirator, Philip Cooke, was sentenced in July 2021 to 18 months in prison. Two other co-conspirators, Brian Gilbert and Veronica Zea, await sentencing.
The Steiners, who continue to run ecommercebytes.com, have filed a federal lawsuit against all seven co-conspirators as well as eBay and other companies that work with eBay.
Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow Norman Miller on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Former eBay employees who harassed Natick couple sentenced in court
