Multi-Millionaire Junkie Grifter Eric Spofford Finally Arrested By Feds For Orchestrating Attack On NHPR Journalist’s Home Who Exposed Sexual Misconduct In Granite State Recovery Homes
Junkie multi-millionaire con-artist Eric Spofford was finally indicted and arrested on Friday for the attack and intimidation of a New Hampshire Public Radio journalist (that everyone knew he was behind) as retaliation for a story they published in 2022 about Spofford’s sexual misconduct. Spofford was the owner of Granite State Recovery, a for profit group of recovery homes, which he sold for $115 million in 2022.
Reporter Lauren Chooljian spoke with several women, who were recovering addicts staying in his recovery houses, and former employees, all of whom detailed how Spofford used his position of power and influence to prey on vulnerable women who like they couldn’t say no to his sexual advances. Spofford threatened a lawsuit against them (which he later filed and it was dismissed) if NHPR didn’t remove the article. Two days later a brick was thrown through Chooljian’s window, and the homes of her parents and other NHPR employees were vandalized.
5 incidents of vandalism targeting journalists.
The c-word spray-painted in red on my parents’ garage. 2 separate times.
The c-word in red on @danielbarrick’s front door. And on a house I used to live in. Bricks thrown through windows.
Here’s my house. It’s not okay. pic.twitter.com/N6KJnOmsJt
— Lauren Chooljian (@laurenchooljian) May 31, 2022
Everyone knew Spofford had to be behind it, but he has the money to pay someone to do this, and no shortage of connections in the junkie community. He also had an enforcer named Eric Labarge, who worshipped Spofford and would do anything for him. Labarge spent years time in prison for stabbing a man 7 times in 2010, and was arrested shortly after the brick throwing incident for beating up a junkie he arranged to meet up with in a Manchester parking lot.
Sources told me at the time that this beating was related to the brick throwing incident, as Labarge had likely hired them at Spofford’s request to intimidate the journalist and her family and coworkers.
In June of 2023 three junkies with ties to Labarge were arrested for the vandalism. Shortly afterwards Labarge was arrested by the Feds, which was announced by Josh Levy at a press conference when Labarge and the 3 others were sentenced to years in federal prison after pleading guilty.
https://x.com/DMAnews1/status/1861213285955313689
But the whole thing felt incomplete since Spofford seemed to have gotten away with it, and was living large with his private jet and luxury yacht in Florida. The changed on Friday:
The founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a for-profit drug and alcohol treatment company, Granite Recover Centers (GRC) in New Hampshire, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly orchestrating a conspiracy to stalk journalists employed by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) in retaliation for unfavorable reporting. Eric Spofford, 40, of Salem, N.H. and Miami, Fla., was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel and using a facility of interstate commerce; one count of stalking using a facility of interstate commerce; and two counts of stalking through interstate travel. Spofford was arrested this afternoon and will appear in federal court in Boston at 3:30 p.m. on June 2, 2025.
Spofford was the founder and former CEO of GRC, a for-profit drug and alcohol treatment company founded in New Hampshire in 2008. According to court documents, in March 2022, NHPR published an article on its website that detailed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, abusive leadership and retaliation by Spofford during his time as CEO of GRC. The article garnered significant local and national media attention. Spofford publicly denied the allegations and later sued NHP, claiming defamation. A New Hampshire judge dismissed Spofford’s lawsuit in 2023.
Beginning in or about March 2022 and continuing through at least May 2022, Spofford allegedly devised a scheme to harass and terrorize the journalist who authored the article, the journalist’s immediate family members, as well as a senior editor at NHPR in response to, and in retaliation for, NHPR’s reporting. It is alleged that the scheme involved vandalizing the victims’ homes at night with large rocks and bricks, and by spray painting the homes with lewd and threatening language.
Spofford allegedly hired his close friend, Eric Labarge, to carry out the scheme. Among other things, Spofford allegedly provided Labarge with the victims’ addresses, gave Labarge specific instructions on how to harass and stalk the victims and paid Labarge $20,000 in cash. Labarge, in turn, obtained assistance from Tucker Cockerline, Keenan Saniatan and Michael Waselchuck to carry out the stalking campaign.
Labarge, Cockerline, Saniatan and Waselchuck were previously charged for their involvement in the harassment campaign and have since been convicted. In November 2024, Labarge was sentenced to 46 months in prison; in August 2024, Cockerline was sentenced to 27 months in prison; in December 2024, Saniatan was sentenced to 30 months in prison and; in September 2024, Waselchuck was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Each count of the Indictment provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
The fact that these idiots all were willing to sacrifice their own freedom for a few thousand bucks each shows how Spofford was able to manipulate dumb junkies he met through his for profit “recovery” conglomerate, which gave him unlimited access to vulnerable people. Remarkably he is only facing 5 years for each of the 4 charges, and may spend less time in jail than the others, despite being the ringleader and financier of the whole thing.
Eric Spofford is and always was a piece of shit. He fooled a lot of dumb people, but he didn’t fool me. People like Mike Pence, former NH Governor John Sununu, current Governor Kelly Ayotte, and other celebrities kissed his ass, as he used his “I used to get high, but now I just sent dick pics to women who are high” to act like a reputable member of society.
With NH’s Eric Spofford, CEO of Granite House, who is testifying at @GOPHELP hearing on opioid abuse crisis. pic.twitter.com/Dpb2xdVotz
— Governor Kelly Ayotte (@KellyAyotte) December 8, 2015
He threatened his former employee Piers Kaniuka into writing a statement disavowing what he had told NHPR about Spofford. I spoke with Kaniuka in 2022, who told me that Spofford threatened him with a lawsuit if he didn’t retract his statements, and he couldn’t afford to fight Spofford.
This is a guy who barely graduated from high school and struck it rich off the backs of people battling drug addiction. He flaunts his wealth on social media like he’s some sort of business guru, but if it weren’t for fentanyl he’d be broke. His inspirational videos and speeches read like something you’d find in a fortune cookie.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdeUiAulajc/
To be clear, this guy never knew the first thing about business. His entire business plan can be summed as, “Inherit home from Dad, pack it with junkies, get money from Medicare and health insurance, open more homes, sell homes, buy jets, post cliche inspirational bullshit on IG.”
Like any relatable guy whose primary concern is opiate addiction recovery, Eric likes to post about how he finances his $5.2 million yacht.
He’s the Elon Musk of junkies.
Spofford claims that he was humble at first, and carried himself as a legitimate businessman in order to woo people in the healthcare industry, but now he’s so rich so he don’t gotta wear a suit no more!
He even knocked up a woman he met in one of his homes.
Eric Spofford is human garbage, and deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. What he did was a direct assault on freedom and democracy – the kind of shit that is only supposed to happen in third world banana republics. It was so obvious from the beginning that he was behind this, and a message needs to be sent that anyone who targets journalists like this will receive the maximum punishment. But most importantly, every single politician and respectable member of society who got in bed with this clown needs to issue some sort of response admitting they were duped.
FBI can put away a guy for 10 years for breaking a window but can’t put away 1 person for a day for killing a Boston cop.
My sincere hope is that the innocent walk free & recoup all and then some from all the not so innocent liars ,as well as the liars all pay, lose their jobs, reputations!!
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Thank you for your coverage of this. I do a lot of volunteer work in the recovery/homeless/addiction space. It’s a tight community and people know and stay clear of the fraudsters! The majority of men and women working in the recovery space are good and solid salt of the earth people! Thanks for exposing the frauds…it can only help those once broken people resume a life of good and clean giving. God Bless You Aidan!
Those politicians weren’t duped. It takes a POS to know one and they welcomed him as one of their own. Plus, it was good photo-op to show them pretend caring.
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Ahhh, the new sneakers. Seems like this is the fashion statement for every recovering junkie out there. My son is a junkie, and it never ceases to amaze me that every time he is in recovery, he seems to have a new pair of sneakers. I ask where they come from, since he hasn’t worked in years, but all I get is the same lame excuses.
This guy obviously buys them with the income from his scam and has a perpetual need to look successful. He’s obviously self-absorbed and walks around like he’s some sort of business guru. I wonder how long it will be before he either falls off the wagon, goes broke or both. A rocket scientist he ain’t.
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Smoking cheese is a much more satisfying and safer hoby than the things this man is doing. We all love that satisfying cherry smoked pepper jack. It tastes better than champagne on private jets. It’s the satisfaction of having smoked the cheese to Christ’s high standards. This poor lost soul wouldn’t know why Christ loves hickory cheddar on his cinnamon toast nod.
Let he that is without cheese cast the first brick. For thy brick will satisfy fast and wholly the hunger of the cheeleless Palestine.
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