Four case histories and their legal outcomes
The very events I am repeatedly told cannot happen, especially by the LAPD, or that people claim not to believe, or intentionally refuse to acknowledge, occur constantly over 49 years, exposing deliberate cover-ups of 49 years of relentless crimes committed against me.
Two of these cases document a false account that made the people being harassed appear to be the threat. Michelle Hadley was arrested and jailed before investigators traced the supposed threats to other sources. In the eBay case, employees used a false security justification to explain why they were watching Ina and David Steiner. The other cases show how courts handled people who joined a wave of abuse or repeatedly targeted a classmate.
Kevin Perelman reports that LAPD dismissed the possibility of group harassment in his situation. The cases below answer the general question with documented examples. Each account identifies who acted, what supported the finding about their conduct or intent, and how the charges or claims ended.
Comparison of the four cases
| Case | What the record shows | Legal outcome |
| Michelle Hadley p. 2 | Two people made Hadley appear responsible for threats they falsely attributed to her. | Charges against Hadley dismissed. Angela and Ian Diaz received prison sentences in separate prosecutions. |
| Ina and David Steiner pp. 3–4 | A company security team targeted the couple’s reporting and falsely portrayed them as a security threat. | Seven people pleaded guilty. eBay entered a deferred prosecution agreement and later settled civil claims. |
| Magali Berdah p. 5 | Participants knowingly joined online abuse directed at one person, some using accusations of fraud. | A Paris court convicted 28 people in 2024 and six in a separate proceeding in 2025. |
| Phoebe Prince p. 6 | Prosecutors documented threats, verbal abuse, and classmates’ accusations against Prince. | Five students entered plea agreements or admitted sufficient facts. Probation and community service followed. |
How the evidence differs
A federal verdict or guilty plea establishes a defendant’s criminal outcome. A prosecution filing can describe what witnesses reported and what the government sought to prove. A company’s statement of facts in a deferred prosecution agreement records admissions, and a civil settlement records the terms that resolved a separate dispute. The case histories identify which of those records supports each conclusion.
Michelle Hadley
California • False police reports led to two arrests • State and federal prosecutions
From initial reports to exoneration
Hadley and Ian Diaz had bought a condominium in Anaheim. Hadley moved out after their relationship ended in 2015, and they continued to dispute finances tied to the property. Ian later married Angela Diaz. In June 2016, Angela told Anaheim police that Hadley had sent threats and was arranging encounters intended to harm her. Angela obtained a restraining order based on allegations she swore were true.
Hadley was arrested on June 24, 2016, and released on bail the next morning. After more reports, authorities arrested her again on July 14. The July complaint included stalking, criminal threats, attempted rape and protective-order allegations. Bail was set at $1 million. Hadley spent 88 days in jail. She was released on October 7, and the Orange County district attorney dismissed all charges and announced her exoneration on January 9, 2017.
Sources Orange County DA exoneration timeline | Orange County DA sentencing summary
How investigators identified the actual source
The district attorney said investigators traced the communications away from Hadley and to sources associated with Angela, including her phone and the Anaheim condominium. Investigators also interviewed Hadley and corroborated information she gave them. Federal prosecutors later established at trial that Ian and Angela had acted together to create apparent threats and then report them as genuine. Angela appeared as the complainant and Ian backed the false account. The resulting criminal case initially targeted Hadley.
Sources Orange County DA on the investigation | DOJ account of the federal trial
Charges and outcomes
Angela Diaz pleaded guilty in Orange County case 17NF0061 and received five years in state prison in October 2017. The prosecutor listed two kidnapping counts, two false imprisonment counts, perjury, grand theft, two forgery counts, two forged-check possession counts, and 22 false reports. California Penal Code §§ 207, 236–237, 118, 487, 470 and 148.5 correspond to the principal named offenses. §§ 475–476 address related forged-check offenses. The prosecutor’s release gives offense names and counts, leaving the exact charged subdivisions unspecified.
Ian Diaz was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking (18 U.S.C. § 371), cyberstalking (§ 2261A(2)), perjury (§ 1621), and obstruction of a federal investigation (§ 1519). The perjury concerned a false answer in a civil deposition, and the obstruction concerned deletion of an email account during the investigation. He received 121 months in prison in June 2023. The Ninth Circuit affirmed all four convictions in January 2025.
Sources Orange County DA on Angela’s pleas | California Penal Code | Ninth Circuit, No. 23-1341, pp. 2–5
A separate civil filing records a 2021 settlement between Hadley and Anaheim and the city employees named in her lawsuit.
Sources Federal court settlement notice
Ina and David Steiner
Massachusetts • Corporate retaliation against two newsletter publishers
Who was targeted and why
Ina and David Steiner published EcommerceBytes, a newsletter covering the online marketplace industry. The company’s statement of facts describes senior eBay executives’ frustration with coverage and reader comments. During August and early September 2019, seven security employees and contractors took part in a campaign to intimidate the Steiners and influence what they published.
The couple received threatening online messages and unwanted deliveries at home. Some messages appeared to come from sellers angry about the newsletter. The conduct escalated to in-person surveillance in Natick, Massachusetts. The Steiners spotted the people watching them and contacted the Natick Police Department. That report opened an investigation that connected the people watching the couple to eBay.
Sources eBay’s admitted facts, Attachment A ¶¶ 49–52 | DOJ account of the individual prosecutions
The security justification and the offer of help
The agreement describes two accounts that helped disguise the team’s role. One portrayed the Steiners as a threat to an eBay executive and the trip to Massachusetts as a legitimate security inquiry. The other presented eBay personnel as people offering to help the Steiners deal with the harassment. eBay admitted that members of the team were themselves carrying out the harassment they offered to investigate.
A company document falsely described the Steiners as security threats. eBay also admitted that, during an August 22 meeting with Natick officers, Brian Gilbert gave misleading explanations for the team’s presence. The company’s statement of facts records other false statements to investigators. Federal prosecutors reported that Jim Baugh and David Harville deleted digital evidence after learning police were investigating.
Sources False security narrative and offer of help, ¶ 51 | Police contacts and false statements, ¶ 52 | DOJ on deleted evidence
What shows intent
The statement of facts connects the company’s concern about the newsletter to the team’s decision to target its publishers. It describes planning, joint action and efforts to misdirect investigators. That record documents a specific reason for the false victim narrative. Presenting an executive as threatened made retaliation against the publishers appear to be a defensive response.
Sources eBay’s admitted facts, Attachment A | DOJ case summary
The eBay Prosecutions and Settlement
Federal court • Seven individual guilty pleas • Separate company agreement
Individual outcomes
| Defendant | Role | Sentence |
| Jim Baugh | Senior director of safety and security | 57 months in prison, 2 years of supervised release, and a $40,000 fine. |
| David Harville | Director of global resiliency | 24 months in prison, 2 years of supervised release, and a $20,000 fine. |
| Philip Cooke | Senior manager of security operations | 18 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release, including the first year in home detention. $15,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. |
| Stephanie Popp | Senior manager of global intelligence | 1 year and 1 day in prison. |
| Stephanie Stockwell | Manager of global intelligence | 2 years of probation, with 1 year in home confinement. |
| Veronica Zea | Contract intelligence analyst | 2 years of probation, with the first year in home confinement, and a $5,000 fine. |
| Brian Gilbert | Senior manager of special operations | Time served, 1 year of supervised release with a no-contact condition, and a $20,000 fine. |
Sources DOJ list of all seven defendants | Baugh and Harville | Popp and Stockwell | Cooke | Zea
Federal charges
Baugh and Harville pleaded guilty to conspiracy and four stalking counts. Baugh also pleaded guilty to two witness-tampering counts and two records-obstruction counts. The indictment cites 18 U.S.C. § 371 for conspiracy and § 2 for aiding and abetting on the substantive counts. The corporate information charged two interstate stalking counts (§ 2261A(1)(B)), two electronic stalking counts (§ 2261A(2)(B)), one witness-tampering count (§ 1512(b)(3)), and one records-obstruction count (§ 1519).
Sources Individual indictment summarized in federal order, pp. 2–3 | Corporate information, p. 1 | DOJ on individual guilty pleas
Corporate agreement and civil settlement
In January 2024, eBay entered a deferred prosecution agreement, admitted the statement of facts, agreed to a $3 million criminal penalty and accepted a three-year independent compliance monitor. A separate civil settlement addressed the Steiners’ lawsuit. When the terms became public in July 2026, AP reported that eBay agreed to pay the couple nearly $50 million.
Sources Deferred prosecution agreement and admitted facts | AP on the civil settlement
Magali Berdah
France • Two Paris criminal judgments for group cyberharassment
How the wave of harassment began
Berdah founded the influencer agency Shauna Events. In 2022, the rapper Booba publicly accused influencers, including Berdah, of deceptive business practices. Online abuse directed at Berdah grew in that setting. Some posts cast her as a scammer, while others contained sexist or antisemitic abuse or death threats. The 2024 court heard about tens of thousands of messages overall. That figure describes the larger wave, rather than the number attributed to the 28 defendants.
The reported findings focused on the defendants’ awareness of the ongoing abuse and their choice to participate. The judgment shows how a person can add to a wave of harassment already underway. The public accusations against Berdah explain how she was portrayed. The court’s reported findings address knowing participation in the harassment.
Sources AFP on the 2024 judgment | Le Parisien on the defendants and court’s reasoning
March 2024 and April 2025 judgments
On March 19, 2024, the Paris criminal court convicted all 28 defendants in the first proceeding. Prison terms ranged from four to 18 months, with suspended portions in some cases. Fourteen defendants received some unsuspended prison time, and the largest unsuspended term was 12 months. The judgment also included fines, two-year no-contact orders, and €54,000 in compensation for moral harm, for which the defendants were jointly liable.
On April 30, 2025, six people were sentenced in a separate proceeding involving antisemitic online harassment and death threats. The messages followed a post by Berdah expressing support for victims of the October 7 attacks. Sentences ranged from six months suspended to eight months unsuspended. The court also imposed three-year no-contact orders. July 2026 reporting identified a separate case against Booba and a trial scheduled for March 25, 2027. The 28-person and six-person judgments concern other defendants.
Sources March 2024 penalties and compensation | April 2025 judgment | Le Monde on the separate Booba proceeding
The French Penal Code
Article 222-33-2-2 covers repeated harassment affecting a person’s living conditions and physical or mental health. Its group provisions also cover people acting together or at one participant’s instigation, even when an individual acts once. They cover people acting in succession without coordination if the individuals know their conduct adds to a repeated pattern. The 2025 judgment was also reported to involve death-threat charges. The report does not give the article numbers for those counts.
Sources Légifrance, historical Penal Code | Légifrance, Article 222-33-2-2 | Reporting on the 2025 charges
Phoebe Prince
Massachusetts • Repeated harassment at school • Five individual agreements
What prosecutors and witnesses reported
Prince moved to Massachusetts from Ireland and enrolled at South Hadley High School in 2009. A prosecutor’s April 2010 filing describes classmates’ hostility over dating relationships. It recounts Prince telling a confidant that other girls blamed her for taking another student’s boyfriend and that the accusations had escalated into threats. A witness reported that Flannery Mullins invoked her relationship with the boy when discussing Prince. The filing records those accounts as evidence of a grievance directed at Prince.
According to the filing, Prince spoke to a school administrator about a threatened attack on January 7, 2010. Investigators cited witness statements about fear of being confronted in the halls and texts from January 14 describing taunting earlier that day. Prince died by suicide on January 14 at age 15. In court, Ashley Longe admitted shouting disparaging remarks and throwing a beverage can at Prince as she walked home from school.
Sources Prosecutor’s April 2010 filing, pp. 3–5 | AP on Longe’s admission
How the five cases ended in May 2011
| Student | Court outcome |
| Sean Mulveyhill | Pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal harassment. One year of probation and 100 hours of community service. |
| Kayla Narey | Admitted sufficient facts for criminal harassment. The case was continued without a finding. One year of probation and 100 hours of service. |
| Ashley Longe | Admitted sufficient facts for criminal harassment. Probation and 100 hours of service, with dismissal conditional on compliance. |
| Sharon Chanon Velazquez | Admitted sufficient facts for criminal harassment. Probation and 50 hours of service. Other counts, including stalking, were dismissed. |
| Flannery Mullins | Admitted sufficient facts for a civil rights misdemeanor and disturbing a school assembly. Probation and 100 hours of service. Stalking and criminal harassment counts were dismissed. |
Sources May 4 dispositions | May 5 dispositions | DA statement on Velazquez and Mullins
Charged statutes and the separate civil settlement
The Mullins filing identifies Massachusetts General Laws ch. 265, §§ 37 (civil rights), 43(a) (stalking), and 43A (criminal harassment), and former ch. 272, § 40 (disturbing a school assembly). The harassment dispositions above are distinct from the statutory rape charge against Austin Renaud, which prosecutors dropped at the family’s request. Prince’s parents separately reached a $225,000 civil settlement with South Hadley.
Sources Charging filing, pp. 1–2 | Former school assembly statute | Renaud dismissal | ACLU on disclosed settlement