Man sentenced for threatening to kill Ingham County judge

LANSING — A convicted sex offender and Michigan prison inmate who threatened to kill everyone involved in his criminal case for sex offenses, including the Ingham County judge who sentenced him, will be spending some more time behind bars.

Christopher Shenberger, 43, of White Lake, was sentenced to 58 months to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to one count of attempted false report or threat of terrorism as a habitual fourth offender, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said.

He pleaded guilty to the charge in October after he sent a threatening letter in December 2021 to Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk, who had sentenced him to prison for sex offenses in late 2016.

The letter was addressed to Draganchuk using obscenities in place of her real name and was among a string of letters Shenberger had sent her, according to testimony in Shenberger's preliminary examination last summer.

In it, Shenberger talked of killing everyone involved in his case, including his ex-wife and his sons, suggesting he would put names on a slip of paper and kill whoever's name was drawn from a jar, according to testimony. Shenberger was concerned he might be denied parole for not completing a required sex offender program while incarcerated.

"I was scared for my safety, I was scared for the safety of his ex-wife, and I was scared for the safety of his sons," Draganchuk testified during a preliminary examination for Shenberger in 54A District Court. "I considered it a legitimate, real threat."

After reading the letter, Draganchuck said she checked the state prisoner tracking site and noticed that Shenberger's earliest possible release date was the following day, Dec. 31, 2021.

Shenberger told investigators the letter was "basically, a cry for help" and that he didn't intend to follow through with those threats, according to testimony.

In September 2016, Draganchuk sentenced him to concurrent terms of 6 years, 3 months to 15 years on two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and 14 months to 2 years on one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. His new sentence will be served consecutively with his 2016 incarceration order, Nessel’s office said.

Nessel called “revenge threats against prosecutors and judges” serious offenses and said she will prosecute such threats. “No judge should be sacrificing their own safety when they fulfill their duties protecting the public,” she added.

Shenberger was charged in the 30th Circuit Court in Ingham County, but Jackson County visiting Judge John McBain presided over the case because of the involvement of Draganchuck.

Lansing State Journal reporter Ken Palmer contributed.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: White Lake man sentenced for threatening to kill Ingham County judge