The 13th Step - Update: The Sentencing

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

A federal judge sentences Eric Labarge, the man who pled guilty to orchestrating the vandalism in retaliation for our reporting on Labarge’s friend, Eric Spofford. Lauren explains what went down in the courtroom – and how she navigated the experience as both a journalist and a victim of this crime.

Previously, on The 13th Step. I'm about as well known as a drug addict. 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. You're this. I just want my kid to be like you. 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? No. But I also didn't know how to tell him no. Where does it say that? Can you tell me?

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 myself, you know? This is clearly not a random act. This was a targeted event. Hello? Mom, the FBI just called.

They picked up Eric Labarge. Get out! You're listening to The 13th Step. I'm Lauren Chooljen. 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 fed 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 gonna 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 25th, 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 head first 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 Tawani 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, Connolly says. Connolly argues Labarge has given back to his community. Dozens and dozens of people sent in letters on his behalf, praising Labarge's character. Judge Tawani 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,' Connolly says, but it was in the news." Judge Tawani, why did Labarge do this? Was it to defend Eric Spofford? Connolly 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, Connolly says, was known to use weapons. Judge Talwani seems exasperated. Have you seen the video? She asked Connolly. Connolly 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 Telwany 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 Telwany 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've got to 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. Since 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. The longer I stayed in, the more of a convict I became.

The more institutionalized I became, it became home. It still feels a little weird saying that, but it's my truth. Yeah. Like, when I went, it was almost a comfortable feeling in the back of the cruiser in the handcuffs, knowing that I was going back home. Don't get me wrong. I am glad he got caught, which still feels so weird for me to say into a microphone, but it's true.

I feel somewhat safer, and I feel so validated and understood by the FBI agents and prosecutors who work this case. I wondered all along if Labarge was involved with the vandalism. Here's another moment from that interview that lives rent-free in my brain. I was known for doing favors. I did favors for people with violence and I did things that most people wouldn't do. The morning after the first round of vandalism, the local police in my parents' town gave me a call. And the first question they asked was, does Eric Spofford have any known associates?

Without hesitation, I said, Eric Labarge. It's probably the answer many people in the New Hampshire recovery world would have given if asked. Most people knew these guys were incredibly close. Eric Spofford would post often about Labarge on Instagram. Under one picture of him and Labarge, Spofford wrote the caption, Friends that turn into family.

Blessed. So, all this to say, the idea that Eric Labarge was now being sentenced for playing a role in the vandalism, it was not surprising. But like, congratulations, Lauren, Labarge is going to prison? I don't know about that. It's just not that simple. One of the hardest parts of the actual sentencing hearing was listening to Labarge's lawyer talk about Labarge's childhood. And a heads up, it might not be easy for you to hear about now.

Labarge says both his parents had substance use disorder. He says his mom physically abused him and his siblings. He says he was sexually abused by a neighbor. Labarge acted out and was sent to New Hampshire's state-run juvenile jail, known as YDC. That really knocked me out. Especially because I know all about YDC. Jason Moon, who helped me report this series, he did a whole podcast about YDC. It's about how for decades, YDC staff allegedly sexually abused more than a thousand children who lived there. And Labarge says he was victimized by one of the worst known alleged abusers. So Labarge turned to violence, drug addiction, and his lawyer said Labarge relapsed around

the time of the vandalism. Not an excuse, I remember his lawyer saying, just context. My insides were like absolutely on fire for this part. I felt sick imagining Labarge as a little boy, but at the same time, I didn't want to feel bad for him. I started questioning if all this stuff about his background was true, and then I felt like a real asshole.

It was so easy for me to feel empathy for the other guys that Labarge paid to attack our houses. It was instantly clear to me that they were sick. Addiction makes it pretty tough to say no to a couple hundred bucks, no matter what it's for or what the consequences will be. But when it comes to Labarge, it's just not as easy. I remember sitting in court, asking myself, am I a person who has empathy for some people with addiction, some people who have been sexually abused, but not all?

What does that say about me? I thought maybe some of this wild inner debate would level out during Labarge's apology. Like if Labarge got up there and said something about how wrong it was to try and defend Spofford in this violent way, or if he said something about the sexual misconduct allegations, he was trying to shut down. If he owned it, apologized in a way that seemed genuine, that might move me. That absolutely did not happen. I remember when Labarge stood up to read his apology. I leaned so far forward in my seat, trying to catch a glimpse of something, anything,

that showed just like his lawyer said, he gets it. But Labarge didn't say a word about Spofford or journalism. He just read like all the words in the thesaurus under trauma and sorry. And then Labarge started listing off all his battles with addiction and how over the past year he'd started a men's group in jail. I looked over at my dad, and he rolled his eyes. Right, I thought. I remember why I am struggling to find empathy here. Because Eric Labarge manipulated addiction for his own gain. He did it to hurt me.

And he did it to scare women in his own gain. He did it to hurt me, and he did it to scare women in his own community from reporting allegations that his friend, Eric Spofford, sexually abused them. And it worked. I felt so sick all over again. Eric Labarge probably did have a terrible childhood. He probably did have a horrific experience at our state's youth detention center. And that is not fair.

But he also did not have to exploit some of the most vulnerable moments of people's lives. And isn't that the reason we are all here in the first place? That's how 13th Stepping happens too. People who understand what it's like to be in the throes of addiction and early recovery manipulate it for their own gain. LaBarge's lawyer told the judge that once Laarge is out of prison, he plans to return to active engagement in the addiction treatment world. And you know what? I just don't know how to feel about that. The 13th Step is reported and produced by me, Lauren Joljan.

Mixing, production, and additional reporting by Jason Moon, who also wrote the music you hear in the show. Editing from senior editor Katie Colanari, news director Dan Baric, and Allison McAdam. Sarah Plord created our artwork and the website 13steppodcast.org. Sigmund Schuetz is our lawyer and HBR's Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie. The 13th Step is a production of the document team

at New Hampshire Public Radio. you