The Kentucky Sentate gavel rests on the wooden sound block in the Kentucky Senate chambers before the first day of Concurrence began at the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky. March 13, 2025.
Los Angeles, California – Federal prosecutors say a Santa Monica man has crossed a line between protest and outright danger. On Monday, 68-year-old Gregory John Curcio was arrested and charged with doxxing a lawyer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a crime that carries up to five years in prison if convicted.
According to the Justice Department, Curcio used his social media accounts to broadcast the attorney’s personal information — including her home address — and even urged others to “swat” her at that location. Swatting, a term that has become disturbingly common in the internet age, refers to calling in fake emergencies to send armed police or emergency responders to someone’s home. The practice has already cost lives across the country, which is why federal officials treat it as more than just online harassment.
“Contrary to what some misguided individuals think, doxxing federal agents and employees is not a harmless crime,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in announcing the charges. “It endangers the agent’s personal safety and that of their family. It’s also a federal crime.”
Court documents paint a picture of a man who had been fixated on the victim and her family for years. Investigators allege Curcio lived in the same Santa Monica apartment building as the attorney’s mother and developed a pattern of harassment long before the online threats. The complaint says he spread false allegations and targeted both women in repeated campaigns of intimidation beginning at least in early 2024.
The escalation came this past February, when prosecutors say Curcio shifted from in-person harassment to digital exposure. His Facebook post identified the attorney by name, linked her to her ICE work, and revealed her home address to the public. He allegedly reposted the same details on another account under his control, making sure the instructions to “swat” her were front and center.
Curcio made his first court appearance Tuesday in Los Angeles. A magistrate judge ordered him held without bond and set an arraignment for October 14.
For federal prosecutors, the case underscores how fragile the line is between online harassment and threats to real-world safety. It also highlights the broader debate around immigration enforcement, where ICE employees often find themselves caught in the crossfire of political battles. Whatever one thinks of the agency’s policies, officials emphasized, targeting an individual employee at their home is not political speech — it’s a crime.
The case will move forward in the coming weeks. If convicted, Curcio faces up to five years in federal prison.
