Lauren Chulgin (0:00)

Previously on the thirteenth Step.

Eric LaBarge (0:03)

I'm about as well known of a drug addict.

Lauren Chulgin (0:06)

What a weird claim to fame. I'm a very well known drug addict in this state. Everyone looked up to him. You're a great role model.

Eric LaBarge (0:14)

You're this, you know, I just want.

Lauren Chulgin (0:15)

My kid to be like you, you know? And then, no, I said, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that certain boundaries had been crossed? And she said, oh, yes. Did you want that to happen? But I also didn't know how to tell him no. Where does it say that? Can you tell? Can you say that to me one more time? It says, just the beginning, under the window. Police are searching for that suspect right there who they say targeted a reporter and people tied to her at least four times. Now, out of everything that happened that probably scared me the most. I live by my side, you know.

Eric LaBarge (1:05)

This is clearly not a random act.

Lauren Chulgin (1:07)

This was a targeted event. Hello? Mom, the FBI just called. They picked up Eric LaBarge.

Eric LaBarge (1:14)

Get out.

Lauren Chulgin (1:22)

You're listening to the thirteenth Step. I'm Lauren Chulgin, and I'm here today with what could very well be our final episode of this podcast. We've come to you with a few updates before this, I realize, but now the vandalism case seems to be drawing to a close. Maybe you remember the vandalism situation. In 2022, I broke a big story about Eric Spofford, the founder and former CEO of New Hampshire's biggest provider of addiction treatment. I uncovered allegations that he had sexually assaulted or sexually harassed multiple former clients and employees of his treatment center. And then a month after we published, my parents woke up to the C word spray painted on their garage and a brick through their window. And so did my news director. A house I used to live in got hit, too. And then a month after that, my parents house was hit again. And this time, mine was too. Our biggest window was smashed with a brick, and underneath it, there was a message in red spray paint. Just the beginning. And then after all that, Eric Spofford sued us for defamation. Clearly, some people did not want me to keep reporting. That experience of retaliation. It became a big part of this podcast, not just because it impacted me, my family, my colleagues, and my sources, but because it underscored just how hard it can be to come forward and tell the truth about sexual misconduct, especially in recovery settings. And so today, I want to tell you how the vandalism story ends. Well, as much as a thing like this can ever truly be over, I'm going to bring you inside a federal courtroom in Boston for the sentencing of the guy the feds say was the ringleader of the vandalism scheme, Eric Labarge. We talked a lot about Eric Labarge in an earlier episode. He's close friends with Eric Spofford and both Erics followed a similar path. Eric Labarge also struggled with addiction and then he opened multiple sober homes in New Hampshire. And it was Eric LaBarge that paid three guys, some in active addiction, a couple hundred bucks each to attack our homes. In response to our reporting about Eric Spofford. In this episode, you're going to hear what Eric Labarge had to say about what he did and what federal prosecutors and a federal judge make of all this too. I was there to see it all go down. I sat in the courtroom with everyone else whose homes had been vandalized. My news director, the people who live in my old house, my husband and my parents. It was the culmination of this deeply weird journey. I've been on reporting a story while unexpectedly being in it. For most of this podcast, I've been focused on trying to strike a balance between those two things. Journalist and also victim one, as the feds call me. But reporting on this situation, LaBarge's sentencing hearing, I think it calls for something different. That day was just as much about him as it was about the people he harmed. So I'm going to tell you this story in two distinct parts. The first part will be just the facts, as if this happened to another person. And then I'm going to tell you what it felt like as me. Lauren, it's time to try and close this chapter. Okay, so let's first do this strictly reporter style. You can't record in federal court so you're not going to hear any audio. Instead, my colleague and I took detailed notes and here's what we saw. On Monday, November 25, Eric LaBarge is escorted into a federal courtroom. And it's hard to overstate how big of a man he is. He's really broad shouldered and he's wearing a white long sleeve shirt with a green jail issued uniform over it. His face doesn't give away much emotion. Labarge glances around the back of the courtroom and sees the victims in this case sitting together on the left side. On the right side, about a half dozen people are here to support him. He sits down. His lawyer asks the clerk for some water. And then Eric Labarge waits to hear how much prison time he will serve. Labarge pled guilty this summer to organizing the vandalism. So his lawyer and the government lawyers have already agreed to a range of time they think he should serve. LaBarge's lawyer is hoping his client gets 37 months, while federal prosecutors believe he should serve 46 months. They'll all be arguing in front of federal Judge Indira Talwani, who could take their recommendations, or she could throw them out and go her own way. All rise, the clerk says, and in walks the judge. She sits down and she asks the government to make their case first. Assistant U.S. attorney Jason Casey is representing the government side. He argues that Eric LaBarge carried out this scheme out of revenge and misplaced loyalty to Eric Spofford. This defendant, he says, chose the victims the words that would be spray painted and even the color of the spray paint. There was damage to the victims and their families, he says, but also to journalism and the First Amendment. And Casey adds, Eric LaBarge has a history of, quote, weaponizing addiction when it suits him. Casey gives an example an unrelated first degree assault charge that LaBarge is also facing. He was actually out on bail for this when he was arrested for the vandalism. Here's what happened. In 2022, LaBarge allegedly kicked a man repeatedly and threw him headfirst into the pavement. The incident was caught on security footage. Labarge then took to Facebook to defend himself, claiming he was just trying to help a friend who had recently relapsed. He wrote, quote, that's what people in recovery do. That story was complete rubbish. Assistant U.S. attorney Casey says LaBarge is willing to use people's addiction to his advantage. He argues, just like when he paid people an active addiction to conduct the vandalism. Judge Telwani has seen a video of this assault. What you see in that video, she says, is horrendously violent. How was he let go on that charge? That's a good question. Casey quips back. Now it's the defense's turn. Attorney Michael Connolly is representing LaBarge. Connolly says his client is sincerely remorseful, and LaBarge appreciates the chilling effect this had on journalism. He gets it, Connally says. Connally argues Labarge has given back to his community dozens and dozens of people sent in letters on his behalf praising LaBarge's character. Judge Talwani interrupts, To what extent has LaBarge explained to these people what he's done? Do the people writing these letters know about the vandalism? The crime was to put fear in people, she says. I can't Speak for them, Connally says, but it was in the news. Judge Telwani, why did labarge do this? Was it to defend Eric Spofford? Connally doesn't answer her directly. He says if LaBarge could go back, he wouldn't do it. Labarge, he says, has two Personas. At the time of this offense, he was in a relapse. He becomes a different person on drugs. Connolly says LaBarge had a terrible childhood, full of abuse, addiction and violence. Connolly also brings up that first degree assault charge. But he tries to defend labarge. The person labarge attacked, Connally says, was known to use weapons. Judge Talwani seems exasperated. Have you seen the video? She asked Connolly. Connally backs down. He agrees the attack was horrific. But he says LaBarge was dealing with undiagnosed mental illness and was using drugs. During this exchange, LaBarge appears to close his eyes a few times. He shuffles some papers, and then Connolly says LaBarge would like to address the court himself. LaBarge stands up, faces the judge, and he starts to read off a piece of paper. He addresses each of the victims by first name. Lauren, Barry, Carrie, Daniel, and anyone else I have harmed. He says he's truly sorry for causing fear, trauma, terror and anger. He says he's thought for the past year about how he would have felt if it were his house. I hope one day you can accept my apology, he says. But I understand if that day never comes. LaBarge doesn't address Eric Spofford, NHPR's reporting, or give any reasons for planning the vandalism. He sits back down. Judge Telwani thanks labarge. What we have here, she says, is a conspiracy to terrorize people for writing something you didn't like. You harmed people from another community, but you also harmed people from your own, your buddies. The judge is referring to LaBarge's co defendants in this case, the three men who threw the bricks and did the spray painting. She sentenced one of them to 30 months, another for 27 months, and the third guy to 21 months. All for doing what LaBarge asked them to do. And now Judge Tilwani says she has decided that Eric LaBarge deserves 46 months in prison, with three years supervised release. He will pay a $10,000 fine and $34,748.17 in restitution to the victims. LaBarge doesn't really react. He's escorted through a side door of the courtroom. LaBarge's friends slowly file out the back and then the victims follow after them. Outside the courtroom, a woman who is standing with LaBarge's group yells out to the victims. He's a good man, she says. At the heart of this case is, of course, NHPR's reporting about sexual misconduct allegations involving Eric Spofford. It came up multiple times during the sentencing hearing. Eric spofford and Eric LaBarge, the feds say, are close friends who've done business together. The FBI found phone records that show Eric LaBarge and Eric Spofford communicate regularly, including around the time of the vandalism. But Spofford has never been charged. And in a statement from 2022, Spofford said he was, quote, completely uninvolved in the vandalism. None of the sentencing documents suggest that LaBarge cooperated with federal prosecutors. There's no mention of any information LaBarge shared about why he did it or if anyone else was involved. But the feds say this case is still an open investigation. So that's what I observed just as a reporter. What you just heard is how I'd describe this hearing if the vandalism happened to someone else. But it sure didn't. After a break, I'll tell you what this was all like for me. There are always things that get left out of a news story. Part of our job as journalists is to prioritize and rank information. And yet there were things that happened during Eric LaBarge's sentencing that might not count as newsworthy, but they surely were important to me. So I'm going to share some of those things with you, even though I gotta be honest that first. More journalist style. Half of this episode, it felt so much safer. There's a lot of protection in being just the observer. But in this case, for our story, it just isn't the whole truth. So here I go. Sense the sentencing. I've had a lot of people congratulating me, or they'll say, good for you, Lauren, or, you must feel so vindicated. You know what? I don't. None of those words ring true for me. I have a lot of raw, complicated feelings about Eric Labarge. Like his sentence, 46 months. I've never really felt caught up about how much prison time LaBarge would get or not. Like, was 46 months or 37 months really going to make a difference in how safe I feel or in LaBarge's chances of rehabilitation. The thing I keep hearing in my head is this interview LaBarge did back in 2020. It's on YouTube now. I've played some of it for you in a past episode. LaBarge says growing up he was in jail or institutionalized settings so often he just got used to it.