Former eBay executive pleads guilty to harassment campaign involving live insects

David Harville, eBay's former director of global resilience, pleaded guilty to taking part in a bizarre harassment campaign which involved sending live roaches, spiders, and a pig face mask to a Massachusetts couple. Harville is one of seven eBay employees who pleaded guilty to harassing and stalking the pair.

The Department of Justice charged former eBay employees with scheming a harassment campaign against the publishers of the EcommerceBytes newsletter. The group wanted to intimidate the Steiners over their negative coverage of eBay. It started with harassing the Steiners on social media and then went to mailing grotesque items to their home and in-person snooping.

Harville pleaded guilty to five felony counts during a video call with a Boston federal court judge. According to the original filing, Harville took a flight from California to Boston with the intent of driving to the home of the Steiners and breaking into their garage. Popp was eBay's former senior manager of global intelligence, Gilbert was the ex-senior manager of special operations, and Baugh worked for eBay.

The sentencing for Baugh, who pleaded guilty in connection with the harassment scheme, takes place on September 29th, 2022. Popp, Stockwell, Gilbert, and Cooke were sentenced in 2020. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.