The former CEO of Granite Recovery Centers, a network of drug and alcohol treatment centers in New Hampshire, was arrested Friday for allegedly orchestrating a conspiracy to stalk journalists, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
Eric Spofford, 40, was accused of targeting journalists employed by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) in retaliation for publishing an investigation that allegedly revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against him while he was the CEO of the recovery centers. Spofford opened the Granite Recovery Centers after struggling with heroin addiction and turned the business into the largest addiction treatment network in New Hampshire.
The NHPR article made a splash, grabbing the attention of local and national media, officials said. Spofford publicly denied the allegations and later sued the public radio station for defamation. He claimed the public radio station filed a “hit piece” against him. He said in his complaint that as a result of the investigation, financial institutions declined to do business with him, had vendors abruptly resign from working with his companies, and was distanced from working with New Hampshire politicians.
He said in court documents that he didn’t feel comfortable in his home state after the investigation was published.
A New Hampshire judge dismissed Spofford’s lawsuit in 2023.
The Department of Justice said Spofford devised a plan beginning in or about March 2022 and continuing through at least May 2022, to harass and terrorize the journalist who authored the article, the journalist’s immediate family members, as well as a senior editor in response and retaliation for the station’s reporting.
He allegedly hired his close friend Eric Labarge to vandalize and spray paint the victims’ homes with large rocks and bricks, lewd and threatening language.
“JUST THE BEGINNING” was spray-painted on the reporter’s home, according to WBUR radio station.
Spofford allegedly paid Labarge $20,000 in cash, gave him the victims’ addresses and directions on how to harass them. Labarge, in turn, hired Tucker Cockerline, Keenan Saniatan and Michael Waselchuck to carry out the stalking campaign.
Labarge, Cockerline, Saniatan and Waselchuck were charged, convicted and sentenced to prison for their involvement in the harassment campaign.
Spofford said he sold Granite Recovery Centers for nine figures in 2021. CBS News reached out to Spofford for comment on his arrest.
He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on Monday.
New Hampshire Public Radio said they were grateful to the Department of Justice for pursuing the case.
“Everyone at New Hampshire Public Radio is grateful to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for their persistence in pursuing Eric Spofford and his associates,” NHPR President and CEO Jim Schachter said in a statement. “His attempt to silence NHPR’s reporting on abuses of power in the addiction recovery industry failed, as should every attempt to snuff out press freedom.”
