255: A Trip to the Movies & the eBay Stalking Scandal

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Chad just wanted to see a movie. He sat next to his wife, Nicole, as the previews rolled. When Chad pulled out his cell phone to check on his toddler, another moviegoer angrily told him to put his phone away. What happened next is the subject of some debate. One thing is for sure: Chad threw popcorn at the man who scolded him, and in response, that man – Curtis Reeves Jr – shot Chad in the chest.

Then Kristin tells us about a couple in Natick, Massachusetts, who found themselves the victims of intense harassment and stalking. Ina and David Steiner weren’t entirely sure who sent them cockroaches in the mail, or who tailed them when they left the house. But they knew that their harassers were angry with Ina’s reporting on the couple’s website, EcommerceBytes. They never would have guessed just how powerful their attackers were.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
Segment of 60 Minutes, titled “Silicon Valley Scandal”
“‘Take her down’: Inside eBay’s stalking campaign against a Natick couple,” by Mike Damiano for Boston Magazine
“Inside eBay’s cockroach cult: The ghastly story of a stalking scandal,” by David Streitfeld for The New York Times
“Couple harassed by former eBay employees sues company and former executives,” CBS News
“Couple still haunted by eBay stalking scandal years after campaign of terror,” CBS News
“Ex-eBay employees charged with mailing spiders, cockroaches and pig mask to critics,” by Irina Ivanova for CBS News

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“Widow of man shot in theater pushes beyond anger to make love his legacy” by Anastasia Dawson, Tampa Bay Times
“The Movie Theater Shooting (Curtis Reeves Trial), podcast episode, Court Junkie
“A Movie Date, a Text Message and a Fatal Shot” by Frances Robles, The New York Times
“He shot a man over tossed popcorn, prosecutors say. His defense: Stand-your-ground.” by Hanna Knowles, The Washington Post
“Trial of Curtis Reeves underway 8 years after deadly shooting inside Florida movie theater” by FOX13 News Staff, Fox13 News
“Widow describes moment her husband was shot in movie theater after argument over texting: "I see his eyes are just glazed over”” CBS News
“After 8 years, a retired Florida police captain is standing trial for killing a man in an argument about texting in a movie theater” by Dakin Andone, CNN
“Curtis Reeves trial: Moviegoers recall what they saw in theater shooting” by Anastasia Dawson and Chris Tisch, Tampa Bay Times
“After acquittal, Curtis Reeves renews freedom; Chad Oulson’s widow grieves anew” by Dan Sullivan and Michaels Mulligan, Tampa Bay Times

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