Former eBay Employee gets Prison time for ‘abominable’ cyberstalking

An Ex-Supervisor for security operations at eBay was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for his role in a cyberstalking campaign that targeted a Massachusetts couple whose online newsletter was viewed as critical of the e-commerce company.

Federal prosecutors in Boston said Philip Cooke, an Ex-Police captain in Santa Clara, Calif., & other employees participated in a scheme to harass the couple through Twitter & by sending them disturbing packages, including live cockroaches.

US District Judge Allison Burroughs called the employees’ actions “really abominable” as she sentenced Cooke, who must also serve a year of home detention & pay a $15,000 fine.

Stalking victims Ina & David Steiner discuss the case with the media on July 21.

“It’s almost unfathomable to me,” Burroughs said. “I’m not sure if I saw it on television I would find it believable.”

Both of the victims, David & Ina Steiner, spoke in court, describing to the judge a bizarre, nightmarish ordeal that left them afraid to leave their home in Natick, Mass., & concerned for their safety.

Ina Steiner said that “We were terrified".

Cooke, an Ex-Supervisor of security operations at eBay’s European & Asian offices, was the first of 7 Ex-eBay workers who have been charged in the case to be sentenced. Four others have also pleaded guilty.

Former eBay CEO Devin Wenig, seen here at a 2019 event, denied involvement & was not charged.

Prosecutors said Cooke participated in an August 2019 planning meeting in which eBay employees discussed targeting the couple with threatening messages, unwanted deliveries like a bloody Halloween pig mask, & covert surveillance.

They did so after two top executives, including former CEO Devin Wenig, expressed frustration with the newsletter, EcommerceBytes, according to prosecutors & a lawsuit the couple filed.

Prosecutors said Wenig texted the other executive after the newsletter’s editor published an article about eBay, saying it was time to “take her down.” Wenig was never charged & has denied knowing about the scheme.

Cooke, in Court, said he should have sought to prevent what became “horrific behavior to please the boss.

He said, “It’s crystal clear this was all wrong from start to finish".

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