eBay employee, who was once a police captain, accused of taking part in cyberstalking
San Jose CA July 9 2020 A seventh former employee of eBay is now facing federal charges after officials say he was part of the coordinated harassment of a Massachusetts couple who published a newsletter that was critical of the company.
Philip Cooke, 55, of San Jose, California, who is also a former police captain in Santa Clara, worked as a supervisor of security operations at eBay’s European and Asian offices. He was charged in a Massachusetts federal court with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.
Cooke will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
Cooke is accused of conspiring with six other former eBay employees in an alleged cyberstalking campaign against the Natick couple who is the editor and publisher of an online newsletter that covers e-commerce companies including eBay.
“Members of eBay’s executive leadership team followed the newsletter’s posts, often taking issue with its content and the anonymous comments underneath the editor’s stories,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The other six former eBay employees charged in the case are: David Harville, 48, of New York City; James Baugh, 45, of San Jose, California; Stephanie Popp, 32, of San Jose, California; Stephanie Stockwell, 26, of Redwood City, California; Veronica Zea, 26, of San Jose, California; and Brian Gilbert, 51, of San Jose, California.
Harville and Baugh were charged on June 15, 2020, with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.
The charging documents on file in federal court identified Cooke as “Supervisor 1.” A previously filed information charging Gilbert, Popp, Stockwell, and Zea with the same offenses was also unsealed on June 15, 2020.
“It is alleged that in August 2019, the defendants allegedly executed a three-part harassment campaign,” authorities said. “Among other things, several of the defendants ordered anonymous and disturbing deliveries to the victims’ home, including a preserved fetal pig, a bloody pig Halloween mask, a funeral wreath, a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, and pornography – the last of these addressed to the newsletter’s publisher but sent to his neighbors’ homes.”
