Two former eBay security executives were sent to prison after leading a cyberstalking and harassment scheme against a Massachusetts couple who own an e-commerce blog that eBay thought was too critical of the company.

James Baugh, the company’s former safety and security senior director, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. His colleague, David Harville, former global resiliency director, was sentenced two years in prison.

David Steiner and his wife, Ina Steiner, the owners of E-Commerce Bytes, a popular website among online sellers, published an article about eBay’s lawsuit against Amazon for poaching its sellers, and discussed one of eBay’s executives in August, 2019. The article appears to have angered senior eBay employees, and started a hate campaign.

According to prosecutors, the executives terrorized the couple by sending them messages full of threats on Twitter. The harassment scheme took it to another level when the couple started receiving a bizarre things like live spiders, a funeral wreath, cockroaches, a fetal pig, a pig mask full of blood, and a book about how to survive the death of a spouse. There were even a few Craigslist posts inviting people for sex at the Steiner’s house.

David Steiner expressed his disgust at the conduct of eBay’s employees, saying that they made their lives miserable. Steiner told the judge that the events were premeditated assaults on him and his wife, and they were sanctioned by eBay’s top management. He expressed his fear that other companies would start to harass journalists in the same way.

Baugh and Harville are among seven former eBay employees who pled guilty to the harassment charges.

The lawsuit showed how the company’s top management became angry after reading the Steiners’ newsletter and the comments by readers, which criticized the company. eBay interpreted this as a threat to its business.

According to authorities, investigations into the case led them to Baugh being the mastermind. He instructed employees to use pseudo emails and prepaid cards and to disguise themselves to hide eBay’s involvement in the schemes.

In another shocking revelation, prosecutors also said that Baugh, Harville and another employee traveled to the Steiner house to install a tracking device on the couple’s car. Fortunately, the Steiners had locked the garage door. The determined Baugh had bought tools with plans to break into the garage.

Baugh’s lawyers said that Baugh was just a tool used by the company to conduct the harassment. They said that he was constantly pressured by executives, including eBay’s former CEO Devin Wenig, to deal with the Steiners.

In 2019, Wenig stepped down as eBay’s Chief Executive Officer, and although he was not included in the criminal charges, he was sued by the couple in civil court. He has denied being involved or even knowing about the harassment against the couple. Wenig’s lawyers said that when he said, “Take her down,” he meant taking her down legally, and he did not instruct anyone to harass them through weird criminal acts.

Before their sentencing, both Baugh and Harville apologized to the couple for everything they did to them. Baugh took responsibility for his actions and asked for the couple’s forgiveness.

Ina Steiner issued a statement saying that she was determined to see everyone involved face the full extent of the law.