A Massachusetts man was arrested and indicted on a cyberstalking charge after allegedly flooding Katie Miller, her husband, and her parents with more than 40 harassing contacts that federal officials say deeply disrupted their lives.
NBC News reported that the FBI arrested John Anthony Proia III, 41, on a stalking charge Thursday, and a federal grand jury in Boston later indicted him on one count of cyberstalking.
An administration official familiar with the investigation identified the victim as Katie Miller, a former Trump administration adviser who hosts a popular conservative podcast and is married to Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area. The Justice Department’s public materials described her only as a former political adviser and her husband as a high-level federal employee.
Court documents and department statements describe a sustained run of calls, texts, and voicemails from August into September. Prosecutors say Proia contacted the former adviser more than 40 times in less than two months, sometimes several times in a single day, including late at night.
Investigators say the calls and messages came through applications that hand out free phone numbers for Voice over Internet Protocol calling and texting. Those tools let a user hide identity and spin up new numbers, producing an ever-changing series of unfamiliar lines. Miller answered some of the calls. Voicemails were left as well.
The Justice Department said the calls “were allegedly made by what appeared to be a male caller employing a menacing tone and often using expletives.” Officials framed the pattern as far more than ordinary political disagreement.
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley put the allegation in plain terms in a statement on the indictment.
"As alleged in the Indictment, the defendant repeatedly and relentlessly targeted the victim, her husband and her family with deeply disturbing communications that profoundly disrupted their lives,"
Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said Proia was arrested “for allegedly engaging in a sustained campaign of harassment to frighten this victim and her family, inflicting significant emotional distress.”
Court filings also accuse Proia of sending disturbing messages to Miller’s parents in that same August-to-September window. One alleged message to her mother called Stephen Miller “evil” and Katie Miller a “creature.” Another featured a photo of Katie Miller. A further message read, “My god, how can you be proud of this filth?”
An alleged text to the victim’s father went further: “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]. Did you raise her to be trash or did that just happen naturally?” The filings present those lines as part of the charged course of conduct, not as protected debate.
Digital trails like these now sit at the center of many criminal cases, including text evidence that prosecutors use to show pattern and intent. Here, the government says the volume, the late-night timing, the rotating numbers, and the reach into the parents’ phones turned private life into a target.
After the arrest and indictment, Katie Miller posted on X thanking the officials she said protected her household.
"Thank you Todd Blanche, Leah Foley, and the FBI Washington Field Office for keeping me and my family safe. Good to see a Boston grand jury indict this man,"
She named Attorney General Todd Blanche, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley, and the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The Boston grand jury’s one-count cyberstalking indictment followed the arrest earlier the same day.
The Justice Department’s news release tied the charge to allegations that Proia called, texted, and left voicemails with “disturbing messages” about the former adviser and her husband. Foley’s office and the FBI Boston Division both stressed the effect on the family, not merely the content of any single line.
Over the weekend before the arrest, Bloomberg reported that two senior FBI officials in Washington were demoted and reassigned to FBI headquarters. Three people familiar with the matter told the outlet the move followed concerns that the bureau was not moving efficiently enough on the threatening calls to Miller.
Darren Cox, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, told Bloomberg the change was a personnel decision made at the field-office level based on “our constant evaluation of mission needs.” The arrest and Boston indictment came days later.
Exact arrest location, full statute citation, plea status, and the names of the reassigned officials were not detailed in the initial reporting. What the filings and statements do show is a compressed timeline: weeks of alleged contacts, rotating VoIP numbers, messages that reached spouse and parents, an FBI arrest, and a same-day cyberstalking indictment in Boston.
Public service does not require a family to absorb a campaign of menacing calls and filthy texts in silence. Federal prosecutors treated this as a crime, and the indictment puts that standard on the record.