LATE LAST SUMMER, an executive at Ebay sent a series of text messages to James Baugh, who was the company’s senior director of safety and security at the time. “If we are ever going to take her down…now is the time,” the first message read, according to a screengrab of the thread. Later, the executive emphasized, “I want her DONE.” Baugh responded that he had a plan. And then he allegedly set it in motion.
A sweeping criminal complaint released Monday by the Massachusetts US Attorney’s office details the unlikely, appalling consequences of that exchange. It charges six former Ebay employees and contractors, including Baugh, with a cyberstalking campaign against the publishers of an ecommerce news site that covered the company. The objective: Get the publishers—a married couple living in Natick, Massachusetts—to stop writing negative stories about Ebay, and figure out the identity of one particularly vociferous commenter. Their alleged methods were outrageous, as were their attempts to cover it up.
They sent nasty packages to their home, placed fake craigslist ads to get people to show up at their address for sex and sent hardcore porn to their neighbors in their name as if it was slightly misaddressed. Unbelievable.