New plea and sentencing in federal case against men who harassed New Hampshire journalists

Graffiti on the side of a house reads "JUST THE BEGINNING!" — According to the indictment, Michael Waselchuck spray-painted "JUST THE BEGINNING" on journalist Lauren Chooljian's house and threw a brick through her window, on May 21, 2022.

Karen is a radio and print journalist who focuses on health care, mental health, children’s issues, and other topics about the human condition.

September 10, 2024

The federal case against four men charged with harassing journalists in New Hampshire continues, with a final guilty plea and one new sentencing.

It all began in 2022, when New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) published an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct at Granite Recovery Center — a prominent addiction treatment center — by the center’s founder, Eric Spofford.

After the story was published, four men — Eric Labarge, Keenan Saniatan, Michael Waselchuck and Tucker Cockerline — were involved in five incidents of harassment and intimidation. The men vandalized reporter Lauren Chooljian’s home in Massachusetts and the New Hampshire homes of Chooljian’s parents and editor Dan Barrick. They threw bricks and rocks, and used red spray paint to deliver crude and threatening messages.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Boston named at least one of the men, Labarge, as a “close personal associate” of Spofford, the subject of the original misconduct story.

Spofford has claimed he had nothing to do with the attacks. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney said prosecutors could not comment on whether or not Spofford is being investigated for the incidents.

NHPR’s president, Jim Schachter, said the news department had never experienced that kind of violent response to its reporting, despite many previous stories in which journalists held powerful people to account.

“You can imagine that it shakes people up,” Schachter said. “It put people at a sense of risk they may not have felt previously. And at the same time, everybody goes on. They’ve never paused in doing their jobs.”

A federal grand jury indicted the four men in September 2023, and all have since pleaded guilty. Saniatan’s plea last Friday was the final one.

Two of the men have been sentenced so far. On Monday, Waselchuck received 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Cockerline was sentenced in late August to 27 months in prison and three years supervised release.

Labarge is scheduled to be sentenced on October 18, and Saniatan on December 6.

“We’re grateful that federal authorities have persisted in pursuing this case and in bringing the perpetrators to justice,” Schachter said. “If (the prosecutions) and generally the attention that this case has drawn discourage others from attacking journalists who are just doing their jobs, then some greater good will have come from this really ugly episode.”

Spofford filed a defamation suit against NHPR for the original sexual misconduct story, but the suit was dismissed in April 2023 after a judge ruled it lacked clear evidence.

Spofford had already sold the Granite Recovery Center when the NHPR story came out. The center is now under new leadership.

Schachter said NHPR continues to cover stories related to oversight of the addiction treatment industry in New Hampshire.

The reporting expanded to a podcast, “ The 13th Step.” It was recognized by the duPont-Columbia University Awards, a national Edward R. Murrow Award, and was a Pulitzer finalist.

NEPM reported and edited this story independently, at the request of the NHPR newsroom. No NHPR staff or leadership had oversight or reviewed the story before it was published.

Karen is a radio and print journalist who focuses on health care, mental health, children’s issues, and other topics about the human condition.