Three New Hampshire men were charged Friday with harassing and intimidating two New Hampshire Public Radio journalists after the outlet published an article last year detailing allegations of sexual misconduct by the founder of the state’s largest addiction treatment network.
Police arrested Tucker Cockerline, 32, and Michael Waselchuck, 35, on Friday after the pair, along with Keenan Saniatan, 36, vandalized the journalists’ homes as well as the residences of one of the journalists’ immediate family members with bricks, large rocks, and red spray paint.
Federal prosecutors said Saniatan “remains at large” as of Friday. Federal Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson signed a warrant for Saniatan’s arrest on Thursday. A hearing where a judge could decide if Cockerline and Waselchuck should remain in jail as their case plays out is scheduled for Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Boston.
People have a right to express their opinion but taking it “over the line” and vandalizing homes “will not be tolerated,” said FBI Boston Acting Special Agent in Charge Christopher DiMenna.
“Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of any healthy democracy and these three men are now accused of infringing on that freedom by conspiring to harass and intimidate two New Hampshire journalists who were simply doing their jobs,” DiMenna said in a statement.
Prosecutors accused Cockerline, Waselchuck, and Sanitan of vandalizing homes associated with NHPR reporter Lauren Chooljian and NHPR editor Daniel Barrick on five occasions in April and May 2022 after the publication of an article on Eric Spofford, founder of the Granite Recovery Centers, in March 2022.
“The critical role that the press plays in our society goes back to the founding of our nation. Today’s charges should send a clear message that 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,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement.
Lawyers for Waselchuck and Cockerline did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday afternoon. It was not clear if Saniatan had retained a lawyer.
The three men were charged with conspiring to commit stalking through interstate travel, which carries a prison sentence of up to five years and a $250,000 fine.
The vandalism started on April 24, 2022, when a brick was thrown through a window of Chooljian’s house, investigators said. An explicit word derogatory toward women was spray painted in large red letters on the front door, according to court documents.
The same word was also spray painted on Barrick’s front door and the exterior of the home was damaged by a large rock, according to court documents.
Spofford’s lawyers threatened NHPR with a defamation lawsuit and asked the outlet to retract or alter the article, according to court records. The outlet declined. The two sides met in May 2022, when NHPR again declined to remove the article, court documents said.
The day after the May meeting, two homes associated with Chooljian were vandalized with bricks and red spray paint, according to investigators.
Just before 1 a.m. a person spray painted the same word, which begins with a “C,” in large red letters on the garage doors of Chooljian’s parents’ home in Hampstead, investigators said. A security camera captured video of the suspect.
Just before 6 a.m. the same day, a person threw a brick through the window of Chooljian’s home in Melrose and spray painted “JUST THE BEGINNING” in large red letters on the front of the house, according to court documents. A doorbell camera captured video of the suspect.
“There is probable cause to believe that the vandalisms were retaliatory acts intended to harass and intimidate NHPR and its employees, including victims one and two, for publishing the article concerning subject one,” investigators said in court documents.
FBI agents said Cockerline and Sanitan had searched Google for all five of the vandalized homes, sometimes within hours or even minutes of the homes being vandalized.
Investigators also said Cockerline and Sanitan were in close communication with a known associate of Spofford, who “solicited” them to vandalize residences associated with Chooljian. Cockerline and Sanitan exchanged “numerous voice calls” with the associate in the days before and after the vandalism in April.
Cockerline and the associate spoke over the phone before and after the May vandalism, according to court documents. The associate also tried to call Saniatan “around the same time,” investigators wrote.
“In light of the timing of these calls relative to the vandalisms and the fact that Cockerline and Saniatan subsequently searched for the addresses of the vandalized homes using Google, there is probable cause to believe these communications concerned the vandalisms,” court documents said.
