The 13th Step - Vandalism Arrests

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

Federal prosecutors have charged three men for their alleged roles in the vandalism incidents. According to the feds, the vandalism was "solicited" by a "close, personal associate" of Eric Spofford's. Reporter Jason Moon goes to the arraignment at a Boston courthouse and tells Lauren what happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you hear me? Okay, I hear you. All right, I'm rolling now. Okay, I'm dying. Tell me everything. Are you rolling? Yeah, been rolling. Oh, yeah, of course, sorry. I literally am dying. You're listening to the 13th step. I'm Lauren Chulgin.

And we are unexpectedly back with a new episode. It's been just over two weeks since we published the podcast. But now I have some major news to share. It's about the vandalism. You probably remember, after I put out my first story about Eric Spofford, there were two rounds of vandalism. First, in April 2022, my parents, my news director, and a house I used to live in were all targeted. The seaword spray painted on doors, rocks or bricks thrown through windows. And then a month later, my house.

was hit. Just the beginning was spray painted on my house, a brick thrown through my living room window, and my parents' house was hit again. Well, more than a year later, I'm here to tell you, arrests have been made. Federal prosecutors have charged three men for their alleged roles in the vandalism. On Friday, June 16th, two of these guys were arrested. The third is still at large. As one of the victims of the crime here, I got a heads up that this was happening. I was told that two men would be arraigned in front of a federal judge in Boston at the Mocley Federal Courthouse. But since the podcast came out, I've been in Chicago for safety reasons. Our security consultant suggested I get out of town. So my colleague Jason Moon drove down to

Boston. And after the hearing, Jason called me to tell me what happened. All right. So the defendants are brought in Tucker, Cockerline, and Michael Wausselchuk. What did they look like? What were they wearing? Yeah. I mean, they, I have to tell you, Lauren, like, seeing them come in the courtroom, I felt sad. I felt sad. Tucker Cockerline was. He was dressed in a, in, like, basketball shorts and a black t-shirt. You know, he had to look about him of somebody who was living a rough life. He had long brown hair.

It was, like, kind of messy and matted. It was, like, tied up in that kind of loose bun. He had tattoos on his arms on the backs of his hands. Michael Wasslchuk, he looked a little more clean cut. he was wearing black sweatpants and a red t-shirt. He had more like close-cropped short brown hair. I didn't see any tattoos. Looked a little younger.

But it became clear like during the hearing that Wostlechuk is in active addiction and because of his arrest is experiencing withdrawal. Withdrawals. Yeah. So there was like a sidebar discussion between. between the attorneys and the judge, where they, like, turned on the white noise machine, so we couldn't hear, but, you know, the judge said it was, you know, had to do with, you know, a medical issue concerning Waslchuk and his substance use.

And at the end of the hearing, basically said he would, in his order, would direct, whichever jail he ends up at to, like, take that into consideration and see if he needs, you know, needs treatment. But, yeah, it seems pretty certain that he's, like, you know, actively withdrawing, like, as we speak, which is sad. God, that's awful. And, yeah, I mean, they both sat down. You know, they each were appointed their own attorney. They were both found indigent, so they can't afford an attorney.

So one was appointed a federal public defender. One was got a court-appointed private attorney. And I could, you know, just pick up a little bit of what they were, you know, this is like the first time they're meeting their attorneys. And so Cockerline was concerned about getting a call out to his girlfriend to hold some stuff. He had, you know, just like the kind of basic, like logistics of what happens when you get arrested and your life is, you know, kind of upended. Yeah. The kind of, yeah, the mundane of it was coming through in that moment. Tucker Cockerline and Michael Wosselchuk are the ones who Jason saw in court.

The third is Kenan Saniyatin. He's still on the lamb. All three live in New Hampshire, and they're all being charged with conspiracy to commit interstate stocking. My house is in Massachusetts. But federal investigators believe they did not act alone. In the criminal complaint, the FBI lays out evidence of a conspiracy to intimidate and harass me and my news director. Dan Barrick, in retaliation for publishing the original story about Eric Spofford. They say Cockerline, Wasselchuk, and Saniyaten were solicited to carry out the vandalism

by a person the feds call Subject 2. Subject 2, the Fed's right, is a close personal associate of Subject 1, and Subject 1 is Eric Spofford. We've posted the full complaint on our website if you want to read it, but in short, it appears the FBI left no stone unturned. Agents were able to track down these guys' phone records, and they show that Cockerline and Saniyaten were in frequent communication with Subject 2 before and after each incident of vandalism. Their phone records also show that Eric Spofford and Subject 2 called each other around the time

of the vandalism, though it doesn't make clear whether or not Eric Spofford knew about the vandalism. Federal agents also obtained data from Google, and they found that Cockerline and Saniyaten used Google to find the street addresses of all four of the homes that were vandalized. Some of those searches were done within hours or even minutes of the vandalism. And then the FBI used cell phone data for location tracking. For example, Cockerline's cell phone places him in Hanover, New Hampshire, right around the time that my old house was vandalized in April of 2022. And Waslchuk's cell phone puts him right at my house at 5.50 a.m.

The moment my security cameras show a man throwing a brick through my window. Speaking of my security cameras, FBI agents were able to match that footage, which shows a man wearing a blue raincoat and a backpack, with a photo of Waslchuk at an ATM, wearing what looks to be the same coat and the same backpack. And one last thing. The FBI also dug up some interesting financial records. On May 20, 2022, Cockerline bought two bricks at a Home Depot on the border of New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Just hours before my house and my parents' home were vandalized. My colleague Jason says Cockerline and Wostlechuk were told at their arraignment that the maximum sentence for conspiracy to commit interstate stalking is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Jason told me the hearing was short, no more than 20 minutes. So then it just wrapped and they took them away? Yeah, and I forgot to mention when they came in, they were both handcuffed. You actually heard the jangling of the chains on the handcuffs before you could see them when they were being led into the room. They were uncuffed to sit at the table with their attorneys.

The marshals were like sitting in the front bench like just a few feet behind them. And then when they, yeah, at the end of the hearing, they were cuffed again and let it away. A few hours after the hearing, the Department of Justice sent out a press release. I got to peek at it before it went public. They do this as a courtesy for the victims. And I was struck by how the DOJ was clearly trying to use these arrests to send a message. Here's a bit of the statement from acting U.S. attorney Joshua Levy. The Department of Justice will not tolerate harassment or intimidation of journalists.

If you engage in this type of vicious and vindictive behavior, you will be held accountable. As for how I feel about all this, to be honest, I'm still processing it. I'm in a weird spot. I'm the journalist that wrote this story, but I'm also the person who the feds refer to as victim one. It's a lot. But there will be time for me to gather my feelings and share them, because I'm told that this investigation is ongoing. And if anything major happens, I will be back in your feed to tell you all about it. it. You can read the entire criminal complaint on our website, 13th Steppodcast.org. That's the number 13.

The 13th step is reported and produced by me, Lauren Chulgin. Mixing, production, and as you heard, additional reporting by Jason Moon, who also wrote the music you hear in the show. Alison McAdam is our editor. Additional editing from senior editor, Katie Culinary, and news director, Dan Barrick. Sarah Plurid created our artwork and the website, NHBR. Director of Podcast is Rebecca LaVoy. The 13th Step is a production of the document team at New Hampshire Public Radio. Hello, this is Jack Wilson, the host of the History of Literature Podcast. For the past 10 years, I've been talking to novelists, biographers, and scholars about the greatest books in the history of the world and the men and women who wrote them, like our recent episodes on Dante in

love, a starter pack of 10 Indian classics, the pop culture that influenced Sylvia Plans, and a talk with scientist and novelist Alan Lightman about the wonders of nature. Join us at the History of Literature podcast wherever you get your podcasts.