A Massachusetts man was indicted Thursday for allegedly cyberstalking podcaster Katie Miller, who is married to White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, according to the Justice Department and sources familiar with the matter.
The indictment charges John Anthony Proia III, 41, of Waltham, with cyberstalking a “former political adviser and prominent member of the Republican Party” married to a “high-level federal government employee” with more than 40 calls and text messages between August and September of this year, the Justice Department said.
The indictment does not name the Millers, but sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News that they were the victims in the case.
Katie Miller could not immediately be reached for comment.
On X, she retweeted an article about Attorney General Todd Blanche’s case and wrote, “Thank you Todd Blanche, Leah Foley and the Washington Field Office.”
The indictment follows a dustup at the FBI’s Washington field office, which was investigating the alleged threats. Last week, two high-level FBI counterterrorism agents were demoted from their posts, after the Millers complained that the FBI was not doing enough to investigate harassment.
The downgrade was first reported by Bloomberg Law. Darren Cox, who heads the Washington field office, later issued a statement saying he was the one who made the personnel decision, not FBI Director Kash Patel.
This is at least the second time Katie Miller has asked the FBI to investigate allegations of threats or harassment.
Last year, Katie Miller complained to local and federal law enforcement about local activist Barbara Wien after she distributed flyers near the Millers’ home in Arlington, Virginia, showing Stephen Miller on a “Wanted” poster for “crimes against humanity.”
The flyers contained his Arlington address and also provided a QR code urging people to demand a congressional investigation.
The incident with the protesters prompted the Millers to move into military housing.
A federal investigation into the case hit an impasse after a magistrate judge twice rejected a search warrant for Wien’s phone, CBS News previously reported.
The state investigation into the case finished earlier this year, after Arlington and Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said in a lengthy court filing that she reviewed the evidence against Barbara Wien and concluded that “nothing in the proceeds of the search warrant warrants criminal prosecution” for violations of a state law that criminalizes the use of a person’s identity or address as a means to coerce, intimidate or harass.
In Thursday’s case, prosecutors said Proia called several times a day using different numbers and sometimes left voicemails.
The Justice Department said Proia also contacted Katie Miller’s mother and left her a number of disturbing text messages, including one that greeted her by name, called Stephen Miller “evil” and used obscenities.
In another text, he allegedly wrote to Katie Miller’s father: “Hey (victim’s father’s first name), how’s it going? Hope your daughter marrying a Jewish Nazi/white supremacist works out for you and (victim’s mother’s first name).”
Proia was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday at 5 p.m. CBS News could not immediately reach his attorney for comment.
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