The four will appear in a guilty plea hearing scheduled for Oct. 8, according to a federal court file and confirmed by a spokeswoman for the United States attorney in Boston. They will also admit to conspiring to tamper with witnesses, the spokeswoman said. It was not immediately clear whether they are cooperating with prosecutors.
Along with Baugh and Harville, the four – Brian Gilbert, Stephanie Popp, Stephanie Stockwell and Veronica Zea – are accused of running a harassment campaign last year against a suburban Boston couple who published the newsletter.
The United States announced the charges against him in June. The charges against a seventh former eBay employee, who oversaw security at the online auctioneer’s European and Asian offices, were announced in July.
Former eBay CEO Devin Wenig, who is not charged, texted a colleague last year expressing concern and anger at the unflattering coverage. What followed, prosecutors said, was a criminal plot by his subordinates to cyber-stalk the couple.
While there is no suggestion in court documents that Wenig knew of the plot, prosecutors say his angry emails and text messages triggered the scheme and play a central role in the narrative explained by the government.
“Take her down,” Wenig allegedly wrote in response to a blogger post.
