Nashua, Salem, Seabrook Men Accused Of Conspiring To Intimidate NHPR Employees, Families

BOSTON, MA — Three men were charged in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on Friday with conspiring to harass and intimidate two New Hampshire Public Radio employees and their families in five different incidents after the publication of a story looking at sexual harassment allegations against Eric Spofford, the former CEO of Granite Recovery Centers.

Tucker Cockerline, 32, of Brookwood Drive in Salem, Keenan Saniatan, 36, of Main Dunstable Road in Nashua, and Michael Waselchuck, 35, of Cynthia Circle in Seabrook, were charged by criminal complaint with conspiring to commit stalking through interstate travel. Cockerline and Waselchuck were arrested on Friday and are due in court in Boston, MA, on Tuesday. Saniatan’s is at large, officials said.

According to court documents, after the publication of an online story and radio report about Spofford, which revealed sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, several homes of two of the network’s employees and their families in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, were targeted with spray paint vandalism, including the words “C---” and “JUST THE BEGINNING.” Properties were also damaged with rocks and bricks thrown at the homes, smashing windows. The five vandalism incidents occurred in late April and late May 2022.

During an investigation lasting about 13 months, police in Melrose, MA, as well as Concord, Hampstead, and Hanover, NH, worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to find out who was involved in the incidents.

Investigators said after the report on Spofford was published, he threatened to sue the network and denied the accusations. Later, Spofford sued and is in the middle of a suit in Rockingham County Superior Court, attempting to access some of NHPR’s sourcing. Initially, the case was dismissed. But Judge Dan St. Hillaire has allowed Spofford more time and requested to see some of the documentation.

Between the threats of a lawsuit, the homes were vandalized. Investigators believed there was an “apparent connection” between all the incidents due to the targets and similarities.

The FBI obtained a search warrant from Google requesting records connected to searches on the addresses of the vandalized homes.

“The results of that search revealed that two Google users — identified in Google subscriber records as Cockerline and Saniatan — searched for multiple of the Target Addresses during the time period encompassed by the search,” the agent wrote in an affidavit. “In fact, Cockerline and Saniatan combined searched for the street addresses of all five vandalized homes, sometimes within hours or even minutes of the homes being vandalized.”

The agent said “cell phone and other communication records” of a New Hampshire resident and “close personal associate” of Spofford, identified only as “Subject 2,” were “obtained.” The agent stated Spofford and Subject 2 “communicate with each other regularly, including around the time of the vandalism.” The pair, the report said, “have had various business and financial dealings with each other.”

Records obtained by the FBI purported to show that Subject 2 “exchanged numerous voice calls” with Cockerline and Saniatan before and after the vandalism incidents. There were no other communications between the parties, leading the investigator to surmise, “There is probable cause to believe these communications concerned the vandalism.”

Records, the report said, indicated Subject 2 knew Cockerline while they were both incarcerated.

Investigators also eyed location data for the cell phones and accused Cockerline of traveling from his home in Salem to Hanover on April 24, 2022. Saniatan was living in Manchester at the time and location data placed him in Windham, near Hampstead, around the same time as that incident on April 24, an affidavit stated. Data was also used as part of the investigation during the May incidents in Melrose and Hampstead. The FBI accused Cockerline and Waselchuck of communicating on May 18, May 20, May 21, and May 22. The agent wrote Waselchuck’s cell phone was also near the residence in Melrose, MA.

Footage was captured from the Melrose incident. Investigators linked the video to photographs obtained from an automatic teller machine usage in New Hampshire on April 2, saying Waselchuck’s jacket was similar to the Melrose surveillance footage.

“In these photographs and videos, Waselchuck is wearing a blue rain jacket with a hood, a black zipper, a vertical breast pocket, a white logo next to the breast pocket, and diagonal reflective stripes on each shoulder,” the investigator wrote. “He is also wearing a backpack.”

In the Hampstead incident, the agent wrote, investigators were able to trace Cockerline’s financial records and records produced by Home Depot, to the purchase of two bricks in Methuen, MA, on May 20, hours before the homes in Hampstead and Melrose, MA, were vandalized.

“Location data associated with Cockerline’s phone confirms that his phone was in the vicinity of the Methuen Home Depot at the time of this purchase,” the report stated.

On its website Friday night, NHPR published a report put together by WBUR, a National Public Radio affiliate at Boston University in Massachusetts.

Jim Schachter, chief executive officer of NHPR, told the station he was grateful for the due diligence of investigators and defended the work of the employees who put together the reports about Spofford.

If convicted, Cockerline, Saniatan, and Waselchuck could face up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Past Criminal Histories

Not surprisingly, considering the allegations by investigators, including an associate close to Spofford connected to the suspects and Spofford being involved in drug rehabilitation, all three suspect have past criminal histories.

Cockerline, according to posts on Patch, is no stranger to police, having been arrested and convicted on numerous drug charges. Court records show his criminal allegations date back 15 years to when he was a teenager.

In June 2008, he was accused of burglary in Exeter, but the case was nolle prossed nine months later, just before a jury was picked for the case.

In November 2008, he was accused of theft by deception and two felony drug possession counts in Kingston. He pleaded guilty to the two drug charges while the theft charge was nolle prossed in June 2009. In August 2013, Cockerline’s sentence was amended on one of the charges allowing him to obtain work release. According to a court filing on May 8, he was accused of violation of a court order and was scheduled for a hearing on Friday.

In June and July 2014, he was accused of forgery in Hampton Falls, Raymond, Salem, and Windham. The charges against him were all filed in January 2015. In April 2015, he pleaded guilty to all the charges. Cockerline pleaded guilty to violating probation or parole charges connected to the forgery cases in October 2015, January 2016, August 2016, and February 2017. According to a court filing on May 8, he was accused of violating a court order and was scheduled for a hearing on Friday. An arrest warrant was issued against him, the court said.

In Salem, in July 2014, he was accused of felony receiving stolen property-$1,501+ but the charge was nolle prossed about nine months later.

While in prison, Cockerline assaulted an inmate in February 2017, leading to another violation of probation or parole guilty plea in July 2018.

Also in July 2018, he pleaded guilty to a controlled drug act; acts prohibited charge in Brentwood from April 2018.

Also in Salem, in December 2021, he was accused of controlled drug act; acts prohibited and pleaded guilty to the charge in February 2022. Cockerline’s sentence was amended on March 24.

Saniatan also has several prior charges, according to court records and posts on Patch.

While living in Allenstown, he was accused of strangling an intimate partner in Manchester in December 2017.

In January 2020, he was arrested on strangulation and assault on Mountain Road in Concord. He was indicted later on the strangulation charge.

Between August 2020 and October 2020, he was accused of witness tampering in Concord. Saniatan pleaded guilty to the three counts in April 2021.

About a year later, he was arrested on a controlled drug: controlled premises where drugs are kept charge out of Manchester. He pleaded guilty to the charge in August 2022.

Waselchuck, too, has a past criminal history dating back to at least 2012 when he lived in Swampscott, MA, and was arrested on trespassing, tagging property, and vandalism charges, as well as a warrant, while in his early 20s. Also in 2012, he was arrested on shoplifting, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace in Salem, MA.

About two and half years later, in Seabrook, he was accused of theft by unauthorized taking-$1,501+ and pleaded guilty to the charge in March 2016. He pleaded guilty to violation of probation or parole in December 2019.

In 2015, he was involved in three other cases — breach of bail, possession of marijuana, and two felony drug charges in May; resisting arrest, criminal mischief, and two felony criminal mischief charges in June; and receiving stolen property and two felony unarmed robbery charges in December, all in Seabrook. In January 2016, also in Seabrook, he was accused of felony theft and felony receiving stolen property charges. He pleaded guilty in March 2016 on one of the felony drug possession charges, the resisting and two of the mischief charges, the receiving stolen property and one of the robbery counts, and the receiving stolen property charge, court records stated.

In September 2019, Waselchuck was charged again with felony receiving stolen property and three months later, pleaded guilty.

In Hillsborough County Superior Court North on May 25, he was brought up on another case, but no information was available at post time. Waselchuck is due to be arraigned on June 23.

Have you got a news tip? Please send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.