A New Hampshire man was sentenced to three years in prison for his involvement in harassing and intimidating two New Hampshire Public Radio journalists in 2022.
Eric Labarge, 46, of Nashua, was sentenced to 46 months in prison with three years of supervised release. In addition, the US District Court Judge Indira Talwani imposed a $10,000 fine and demanded $34,139 in restitution to the targeted NHPR journalists.
In July, Labarge pleaded guilty in a federal court in Boston for his role in conspiring to harass the journalists on five counts. The harassment and intimidation included the vandalism of the victims’ homes with bricks, rocks—including throwing a soft-ball sized rock at one of the victims’ houses—and spraypainting the word “c*unt” in large red letters on the door of one of the victims’ homes, according to the US Attorney’s office in Massachusetts.
Larbage recruited and paid three other men to carry out all acts of vandalism in 2022. The vandalism was purportedly conducted after one of the journalists at NHPR published an investigation into allegations of misconduct into the founder of Granite Recovery Centers, Eric Spofford. Granite Recovery Centers is a New Hampshire-based addiction recovery center, and Larbage is allegedly a close friend of Spofford, according to reporting by WBUR.
In September, Larbage was arrested along, with co-conspirators Tucker Cockerline (of Salem), Michael Waselchuck (of Seabrook) and Keeenan Saniatan (of Nashua).
“Let today’s sentence be a warning: anyone attempting to infringe on the freedom of the press – a constitutionally protected right – will not get away with it,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division.
The other people involved in Larbage’s ring—Cockerline and Waselchuck—received prison sentences of 27 months and 21 months respectively earlier this year. Sainatan has pleaded guilty, and his sentencing is scheduled on Dec.6.
