A Massachusetts man was indicted on 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 advisor and prominent member of the Republican party” who is married to a “high-level federal government employee” with more than 40 calls and texts between August and September of this year, the Justice Department said.
The indictment does not name the Millers, but sources familiar with the case confirmed to CBS News that they are the victims in the case.
Katie Miller could not immediately be reached for comment.
On X, she retweeted a post about the case by Attorney General Todd Blanche and wrote, “Thank you Todd Blanche, Leah Foley and the Washington Field Office.”
The indictment follows a dust-up at the Washington Field Office of the FBI, which was investigating the alleged threats. Last week, two senior-level counterintelligence FBI agents were demoted from their positions, after the Millers complained that the FBI wasn’t doing enough to investigate the harassment.
The demotion was first reported by Bloomberg Law. Darren Cox, who leads the Washington Field Office, later issued a statement saying that he had made the personnel decision, and not FBI Director Kash Patel.
This is at least the second time Katie Miller has asked the FBI to investigate alleged 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’ Arlington, Virginia, home that showed Stephen Miller on a “Wanted” poster for “crimes against humanity.”
The flyers contained his Arlington address, and they also provided a QR code that urged people to demand a congressional investigation.
The incident with the protesters prompted the Millers to move into military housing.
A federal investigation into the matter hit a dead end after a magistrate judge twice rejected a search warrant for Wien’s phone, CBS News previously reported.
The state investigation into the matter ended earlier this year, after Arlington and Falls Church Commonwealth Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said in a lengthy court filing that she had reviewed evidence against Barbara Wien and found that “nothing in the proceeds of the search warrant supports criminal prosecution” for violations of a state law that criminalizes using someone’s identity or address as a means to coerce, intimidate or harass.
In the case on Thursday, prosecutors said that Proia called multiple times a day using different numbers, and sometimes left voicemails.
The Justice Department said that Proia also contacted Katie Miller’s mother and left a number of disturbing text messages, including one that greeted her by name, referred to Stephen Miller as “evil” and used an obscenity.
In another text, he allegedly wrote to Katie Miller’s father: “Hey [first name of victim’s father], how goes it? Hope your daughter marrying a Jewish Nazi/white supremacist is working out for you and [first name of victim’s mother].”
Proia was due to appear in federal court at 5 p.m. on Thursday. CBS News could not immediately reach his attorney for comment.
