By Lauren Penington,The Associated Press
Copyright denverpost
A Colorado woman and two other activists opposed to President Donald Trump’s immigration raids in Los Angeles have been indicted on charges of illegally “doxing” a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, federal prosecutors said.
Ashleigh Brown, a 38-year-old woman from Aurora, is among the three accused of following the unidentified ICE agent home, livestreaming their pursuit and posting the agent’s address online, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Once they arrived at the agent’s home, prosecutors allege the women shouted “ICE lives on your street and you should know,” according to the indictment.
The defendants are each charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of publicly disclosing the personal information of a federal agent, the statement said.
Brown, who is being held in federal custody without bail, also faces charges of assault on a federal officer in a separate case stemming from a protest in Los Angeles in August, according to court records.
The Aurora woman was part of a small group of protesters who gathered outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on Aug. 2 to protest immigration enforcement and raids in Los Angeles, according to court documents.
During that protest, Brown hit one of the Federal Protective Service officers trying to detain a man who jumped on the hood of a government car leaving the Roybal building, the criminal complaint alleges.
The Federal Protective Service is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for protecting federally owned and leased buildings.
Brown’s federal assault case is still ongoing.
Prosecutors said the second suspect accused of doxing an ICE agent, a 25-year-old woman from Panorama City in Los Angeles, is free on $5,000 bail. Authorities are still searching for the third defendant, a 37-year-old woman from Riverside, California.
“Our brave federal agents put their lives on the line every day to keep our nation safe,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “The conduct of these defendants are deeply offensive to law enforcement officers and their families. If you threaten, dox, or harm in any manner one of our agents or employees, you will face prosecution and prison time.”
Doxing is a typically malicious practice that involves gathering private or identifying information and releasing it online without the person’s permission, usually in an attempt to harass, threaten, shame or exact revenge.
Attorneys for the women could not immediately be reached on Monday. An email was sent to the Federal Public Defender’s Office asking if its attorneys are representing the defendants.
According to the indictment, the three women last month followed an ICE agent from the federal building in downtown Los Angeles to the agent’s residence in Baldwin Park, east of LA. They livestreamed the entire event, court documents say.
In July, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened to prosecute people for publishing federal agents’ personal information in response to fliers in Portland, Oregon, that called for people to collect intel on ICE.
Critics of the Trump administration’s raids have expressed outrage over federal agents wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves in public while arresting immigrants in California.
Last week, California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business.
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