A Sydney woman's Tesla was remotely controlled by her abusive ex-partner through the Tesla app, allowing him to manipulate the car's speed, temperature, and locks, according to police documents tendered in court. Enrico Pucci, 50, was convicted last Wednesday of 30 domestic violence-related charges against Stacey, including using the Tesla app to harass her, and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
Remote Control and Harassment
Almost a year ago, Stacey heard her Tesla car alarm sound on three occasions in the middle of the night. Having suffered four years of domestic abuse by Pucci, she was "too scared" to go outside, fearing he might be damaging her vehicle, the police documents stated. The next morning, the car appeared undamaged, but the dashboard had been reset and a "parental control" profile had been added.
Three days later, Pucci followed her in a car and yelled at her about a man she was dating, shouting, "You thought you'd get away with this. I am in your car. I am in your maps," according to police records. Over the following days, Stacey discovered that the parental control profile, to which she had no access, could almost entirely control the car, including its speed, climate control, lock, and curfew hours, determining when the car could be driven.
Court Details and Sentencing
Between 6 and 12 November 2025, Pucci remotely alternated the car's temperature setting between extremely cold and extremely hot. The police documents stated, "The victim has not been able to drive certain speeds and on most recent occasions throughout this period, [the accused] has turned on 'Valet Mode' which immediately reduces the speed to 40km per hour causing significant safety issues for the victim on the road."
Judge Peter Feather sentenced Pucci in Parramatta local court in western Sydney to two years and three months, with a non-parole period of 15 months, after Pucci pleaded guilty to the charges. Feather said Pucci had engaged in "abusive behaviour" towards Stacey over four years, including "multiple methods to dominate" her, such as using the Tesla app to control her car and forging fraudulent employment opportunities to "create dependency" while "also forcing her to pass up other opportunities."
History of Abuse
The police documents detailed years of abuse, including an incident in March 2020 when Pucci threatened Stacey would never see her son again if she ended the relationship, forcibly took her phone, and dragged her to a pillar, saying "say goodbye to your son." In 2021, Pucci strangled Stacey to the point she blacked out, believing she was going to die.
Stacey purchased the Tesla while they were a couple, and Pucci offered to help with the technology, saying he needed the car registered in his name to control the Tesla app to "assist her." In November 2025, a month after the relationship ended, Pucci used the app to harass her, including seven attempts to disconnect the car from its charging port.
Pucci is appealing his sentence for the 30 offences and is scheduled to face court again in late October. The offences include eight counts of stalking or intimidation, six counts of common assault, two counts of choking a person without consent, one count of using a carriage service to threaten to kill, and one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
In 2017, the federal court found that a Sydney cleaning firm owned by Pucci had treated vulnerable foreign workers as "slaves," leading to a penalty of nearly $450,000 against Grouped Property Services Pty Ltd. In 2022, ASIC disqualified Pucci from managing corporations for five years due to his involvement in the failure of three companies, which owed almost $10m to creditors.
