Santa Monica man pleads guilty to ‘doxing’ ICE official
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- A 68-year-old Santa Monica man pleaded guilty Friday to “doxing” a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney.
- Although the Trump administration has repeatedly raised concerns about ICE and Border Patrol agents being doxed by protesters and activists, federal prosecutors have brought the charge only a handful of times.
- The defendant, Gregory John Curcio, was involved in a personal dispute with the victim’s mother.
A 68-year-old Santa Monica man pleaded guilty Friday to charges that he “doxed” an attorney who works with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said.
In 2025, federal prosecutors said Gregory John Curcio published the home address of the attorney on Facebook and urged people to “swat” her. “Swatting” refers to placing a fake emergency call that will prompt a law enforcement response.
Curcio had been in a long-term feud with the victim’s mother, prosecutors said in court filings. The victim never met Curcio but alleged he had harassed her family for years, according to a statement released Friday by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
No one was injured in the incident. Curcio faces up to five years in federal prison at sentencing in August, officials said.
“Today’s guilty plea demonstrates our commitment to holding those accountable who endanger the safety of our federal personnel,” First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a statement. “Doxing is not just dangerous, it’s illegal.”
Amid widespread protests, Trump administration officials have repeatedly complained about protesters and activists doxing agents employed by ICE or U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The slang word doxing refers to the unwanted publication of a person’s information online, and Trump officials have often bemoaned the release of the names of agents connected to on-duty violence and instances of agents’ locations being revealed.
But doxing is a crime only when prosecutors can prove someone published a federal employee’s protected personal information for the purposes of threatening them or inciting violence. The charge has been brought by federal prosecutors only five times nationwide since President Trump was reelected, according to a review of court records, and all of those cases were filed in Los Angeles.
Curcio’s case marks the first guilty plea or conviction related to such charges in several years. Three anti-ICE protesters were indicted on charges they doxed an ICE agent last year, but the charges were later dropped after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent admitted the women had not actually published the purported victim’s address.
Two of the defendants were later convicted of stalking charges, but a motion to dismiss the verdict will come before a federal judge later this month.
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