Ex-police captain convicted in eBay harassment campaign involving spiders, roaches, fetal pig avoids prison due to cancer diagnosis

David and Ira Steiner appear for a 60 Minutes interview in 2023 (60 Minutes/YouTube).

David and Ira Steiner appear for a ’60 Minutes’ interview in 2023 (60 Minutes/YouTube).

The last of seven former eBay employees who were in involved in a cyberstalking campaign that targeted a Massachusetts couple with disturbing threats and menacing packages containing things like a bloody pig Halloween mask, a book on surviving the death of a spouse as well as live cockroaches and spiders, has been sentenced to time served, and he will not spend any more time behind bars in light of what legal filings describe as a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Prosecutors confirmed to Law&Crime via email Monday that Brian Gilbert, 56, spent only one day in jail prior to his sentencing hearing last week — this was from the time between his arrest and his release with conditions.

Gilbert, as Law&Crime previously reported, was the senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security team. The Justice Department announced that he was sentenced to time served and must also pay a $20,000 fine and not make any contact with his victims.

Gilbert pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. Prosecutors sought a sentence of time served since Gilbert is suffering terminal cancer, according to a sentencing memorandum filed on July 12 — although they implied that they weren’t especially happy about it.

“There is clearly no satisfactory outcome in this case,” prosecutors said in the memo, noting that Gilbert and his co-defendants “engaged in an extreme and unprecedented campaign to harass a pair of journalists” and “used decades of police training and experience” to try and throw investigators off the case.

“While prison is the appropriate punishment for the defendant’s crime, a prison sentence would not be appropriate given the defendant’s current prognosis,” the memo added.

It was not immediately clear whether Gilbert spent any time behind bars in connection with the crime.

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