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Natick Report

More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.

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Natick Report: Helps us help you in ’22

January 1, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Thanks for all of your Natick Report support in 2022.

We appreciate the news tips, from the quirky to the really important. We appreciate the photos. We appreciate you sending along memos from town officials that the rest of the community might care about. And we appreciate organizations, businesses, town officials, and residents who have given us a heads up on things and answered our questions.

As a two-person, independent journalism operation, we need all the help we can get, and we want to make Natick Report an even more useful resource for you in ’22. Reach us at natickreport@gmail.com as well as on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

And if you’re interested in advertising as a business, organization, or political candidate, please Ask about Advertising on Natick Report.

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Filed Under: Media

Online event will explore Natick historical newspapers—whatever newspapers are

November 30, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

As an online-only publication, we at Natick Report don’t really get what newspapers are. But we do get digital stuff, so we’re interested in Natick Historical Society’s online event on Dec. 1 at 7pm that discusses Morse Institute Library’s digital repository of historic newspapers of Natick dating back more than 150 years.

This free Zoom event will feature local librarian Karol Bartlett. Advanced registration is required.

natick historical museum society


Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: History, Media, Morse Institute Library

Natick Report lasts a whole year!

April 1, 2021 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

We foolishly boldly launched Natick Report last April 1, figuring what the heck, we’ve got some extra time on our hands given that it looks like the pandemic isn’t going to be over any time soon. As some of you know, we’ve run The Swellesley Report website in Wellesley for 15 years, and that we’ve shared our time living in Natick and Wellesley over the past 25 or so years.

Entering Natick Sign, Natick

So far, so good

We’ve gotten into a routine with Natick Report where we post at least something most days between the two of us, and we’re super thankful whenever we get contributions from residents as we did right from the start with a post about mask making. Thanks also for the tips and photos, and please keep ’em coming.

There’s only so much of us two to go around, so we appreciate ideas and content from you. Email us 24/7 at natickreport@gmail.com (Deborah works on the our sites full time, Bob in his spare time.)

Our approach to covering Natick thus far has included:

  • Reacclimatizing ourselves to Natick, watching endless board meetings (thanks, Pegasus) and reporting on Board of Health meetings that otherwise have largely gone uncovered.
  • Systematically roamed the town for changes in storefronts or anything else.
  • Introducing ourselves to town officials and other movers and shakers. We were thankful that all candidates for contested elected offices replied to our questions in advance of the election.

Covering Natick has meant covering heavy topics, from untimely deaths to social strife.

But we’ve also had an opportunity to cover fun and entertaining subjects, such as:

  • This Natick Halloween display is a house of horrors
  • Natick garden visit—it’s like stepping into a painting
  • Have we rescued a piece of South Natick’s red footbridge?
  • In remembrance: ‘Coney,’ Natick’s sidewalk Catalpa tree
  • Digging Natick’s new Beach House indoor volleyball courts
  • Natick bridge brimming with LOVE 01760 hearts
  • Diving headlong into 2021 at Natick’s Dug Pond

And just this week:

  • Welcome Natick’s newest neighbors: 900 rainbow trout

Is anyone actually reading us?

Yes. Traffic to our website has grown from single and double digits per day at the start to four digits consistently at this point. We have about 300 subscribers to our daily email newsletter, and have built our social media following up to about 2,000 people from scratch (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). We’ve broken a handful of stories, and traffic has spiked on those days, though we still could use more help from Google to showcase our work. We’re trying to be patient.

Our current big project is putting a new advertising system in place to help organizations reach more people and to make our lives easier on the back end. We’d love to have your organization join others that have gotten in on the ground floor by advertising on Natick Report. Rates start at $25 to run a flyer on our Community Bulletin Board page and increase from  there for banner ads and/or sponsored content.

Thanks,

Bob & Deborah

Filed Under: Media

Natick couple victims of alleged cyberstalking campaign by now ex-eBay employees

June 15, 2020 by Admin Leave a Comment

From the Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts:

Six former employees of eBay, Inc. have been charged with leading a cyberstalking campaign targeting the editor and publisher of a newsletter that eBay executives viewed as critical of the company. The alleged harassment included sending the couple anonymous, threatening messages, disturbing deliveries – including a box of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig mask – and conducting covert surveillance of the victims. 

James Baugh, 45, of San Jose, Calif., eBay’s former Senior Director of Safety & Security, was arrested today and charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.

David Harville, 48, of New York City, eBay’s former Director of Global Resiliency, was arrested this morning in New York City on the same charges and will make an initial appearance via videoconference in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.

In addition the following defendants were charged in an Information unsealed today: Stephanie Popp, 32, of San Jose, eBay’s former Senior Manager of Global Intelligence; Stephanie Stockwell, 26, of Redwood City, Calif., the former manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center (GIC); Veronica Zea, 26, of San Jose, a former eBay contractor who worked as an intelligence analyst in the GIC; and Brian Gilbert, 51, of San Jose, a former Senior Manager of Special Operations for eBay’s Global Security Team. They are each charged with  conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses and will make appearances in federal court in Boston at a later date. 

According to the charging documents, the victims of the cyberstalking campaign were a Natick couple who are the editor and publisher of an online newsletter that covers ecommerce companies, including eBay, a multinational ecommerce business that offers platforms for consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer transactions. Members of the executive leadership team at eBay followed the newsletter’s posts, often taking issue with its content and the anonymous comments underneath the editor’s stories. 

It is alleged that in August 2019, after the newsletter published an article about litigation involving eBay, two members of eBay’s executive leadership team sent or forwarded text messages suggesting that it was time to “take down” the newsletter’s editor.

In response, Baugh, Harville, Popp, Gilbert, Zea, Stockwell, and others allegedly executed a three-part harassment campaign. Among other things, several of the defendants ordered anonymous and disturbing deliveries to the victims’ home, including a preserved fetal pig, a bloody pig Halloween mask, a funeral wreath, a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, and pornography – the last of these addressed to the newsletter’s publisher but sent to his neighbors’ homes.

As part of the second phase of the campaign, some of the defendants allegedly sent private Twitter messages and public tweets criticizing the newsletter’s content and threatening to visit the victims in Natick. The documents allege that Baugh, Gilbert, Popp and another eBay security employee planned these messages to become increasingly disturbing, culminating with “doxing” the victims (i.e., publishing their home address). It is alleged that the very same group intended then to have Gilbert, a former Santa Clara police captain, approach the victims with an offer to help stop the harassment that the defendants were secretly causing, in an effort to promote good will towards eBay, generate more favorable coverage in the newsletter, and identify the individuals behind the anonymous comments.

The third phase of the campaign allegedly involved covertly surveilling the victims in their home and community. According to the complaint, Harville and Zea registered for a software development conference to explain their trip to Boston on Aug. 15, 2019. Baugh, Harville, and Zea (and later Popp) allegedly drove to the victims’ home in Natick several times, with Harville and Baugh intending at one point to break into the victims’ garage and install a GPS tracking device on their car. As protection in the event they were stopped by local police, Baugh and Harville allegedly carried false documents purporting to show that they were investigating the victims as “Persons of Interest” who had threatened eBay executives. The victims spotted the surveillance, however, and notified the Natick police, who began to investigate. The police learned that Zea had rented one of the cars used by the defendants and reached out to eBay for assistance.

Aware that the police were investigating, the defendants allegedly sought to interfere with the investigation by lying to the police about eBay’s involvement while pretending to offer the company’s assistance with the harassment, as well as by lying to eBay’s lawyers about their involvement. At one point, for example, Baugh, Gilbert, Popp, and Stockwell allegedly plotted to fabricate another eBay “Person of Interest” document that could be offered to the police as a lead on some of the harassing deliveries. As the police and eBay’s lawyers continued to investigate, the defendants allegedly deleted digital evidence that showed their involvement, further obstructing what had by then become a federal investigation.

The charges of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses each carry a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Natick Chief of Police James G. Hicks made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth B. Kosto and David J. D’Addio of Lelling’s Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case. 

The details contained in charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

[Natick Report Note: The Natick couple is not identified in the official release, and we’ll refrain from identifying them unless they identify themselves in light of this indictment.]

Universal Hub has the gory details in the affidavit.

As alleged, the extensive harassment campaign launched by these six @eBayemployees included sending embarrassing & disturbing deliveries to the Natick couple's home, including a bloody pig mask, sympathy wreath, a book on how to survive the loss of a spouse, & live insects. pic.twitter.com/U2d1fgsLJD

— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) June 15, 2020

eBay’s statement on the regarding the indictments:

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) today commented on indictments separately announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts against several former eBay employees. Neither the Company nor any current eBay employee was indicted. In order to preserve the integrity of the government’s investigation, eBay did not previously communicate about this matter. In light of today’s public announcement by the government, eBay is now addressing this matter publicly. 

eBay was notified by law enforcement in August 2019 of suspicious actions by its security personnel toward a blogger, who writes about the Company, and her husband. eBay immediately launched a comprehensive investigation, which was conducted with the assistance of outside legal counsel, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. As a result of the investigation, eBay terminated all involved employees, including the Company’s former Chief Communications Officer, in September 2019.

The independent special committee formed by eBay’s Board of Directors to oversee the Company’s investigation into this matter said, “eBay took these allegations very seriously from the outset. Upon learning of them, eBay moved quickly to investigate thoroughly and take appropriate action. The Company cooperated fully and extensively with law enforcement authorities throughout the process. eBay does not tolerate this kind of behavior. eBay apologizes to the affected individuals and is sorry that they were subjected to this. eBay holds its employees to high standards of conduct and ethics and will continue to take appropriate action to ensure these standards are followed.”

The Company noted that the internal investigation also examined what role, if any, the Company’s CEO at the time of the incident, Devin Wenig, may have had in this matter. The internal investigation found that, while Mr. Wenig’s communications were inappropriate, there was no evidence that he knew in advance about or authorized the actions that were later directed toward the blogger and her husband. However, as the Company previously announced, there were a number of considerations leading to his departure from the Company.

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Filed Under: Media, Police & crime

Natick Report—our story

April 1, 2020 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

Hi, we’re Deborah and Bob Brown, and we’ve been covering local news since 2005. Our focus has been Wellesley, but in our quest for world domination, we’ve taken our talents across the border to start Natick Report.

Why Natick? Because we bought our first house here, a small Cape near Roche Bros. Once we checked that box, we had babies and brought them to the Natick Cooperative Playgroup, where we all got properly socialized. Heck, we still have besties in town who we’d lay down in traffic for. So that’s why Natick. We may have lived here for only eleven years, but those were seriously formative years, people.

Entering Natick, Bob and Deb

Bob graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Deborah graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications. Yes, we were in college at the same time. And yes, it’s a meet-cute story that resulted in love, marriage, a mortgage, kids — all the things. We’ll tell you more about it someday.

With Natick Report, we strive to provide a central source of news and information about the town for residents, those who work here, and visitors. While our focus is on Natick, we also venture beyond town borders to cover restaurants that might be of interest to you, as well as cultural events, plays in Boston, and nearby vacation getaways.

The Swellesley Report, our other online news venture, started out as a highfalutin hobby. An experiment in civic duty we took on in the spirit of exploring online community journalism, if you will. The hobby then turned into a beast, which we’ve wrestled into a revenue-producing career. Fine, maybe it’s actually online journalism and its 24/7 demands that have wrestled us into submission, but we’re not complaining.

But how did The Reports really, really start?

That’s the question we get most often, so we’ll tell you how The Reports really, really started. It was a cold, wintry day. The snow was falling, and our young kids wanted to go sledding. But where? We took our question to the computer, but the great and mighty Lord Internet turned up nothing. No guide to area sledding hills came up, no top-ten lists, no warnings about hills that lead straight into swamps. Nothing. We’re resourceful people, so we managed to find a fun place with little difficulty. But a bee had been put into Bob’s baseball cap.

“You know,” he said later over a cup of hot chocolate. “We should start a blog. It would be good for us from a professional development perspective. Learn something new and all that.”

Deborah, knowing Bob would do most of the work, heartily agreed.

We decided on WordPress as a platform, and got going. At first, content creation was mostly Bob’s doing. He’d post a couple of times per week, then daily, then multiple times a day. He’s the type to ramp things up, fast. Deborah would keep her ear to the ground and her camera ready as she carpooled the kids around town and did general stay-at-home parent stuff. Bob claims he encouraged her to keep learning more about the technical side of the site. Deborah says his encouragement was more like grooming. Either way, Deborah’s fears that as a stay-at-home mom she was becoming workplace obsolete started to fall away. Those fears were replaced by an epiphany: that husband of hers had figured out a sneaky way to get her back into paid employment.

As our site became more popular, together Bob and I increased the commitment level. Businesses started asking if we took on  advertisers. We looked at each other. Do we? We’re not dumb, so yes, we positively took on advertisers. That yes to monetizing our one-time hobby changed our lives.

Before long, two people who considered themselves creative types who knew nothing about business had shifted their thinking. Today, we still identify as creatives. But now we’re also entrepreneurs traveling fast and furiously up an incredibly rewarding learning curve.

Hang with us, won’t you? This is going to be fun for everyone.

We don’t do The Reports alone

The content on Natick Report is also contributed by other guest authors and photographers, and as far as we’re concerned, the more of that the better. Share your stories and news tips with us.

Contact info:

Bob and Deborah Brown, (co-editors): natickreport@gmail.com

Website design/tech support:  Tech Tamer

Filed Under: Media

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Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

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