WHITE LAKE, Mich. – An Oakland County man who is currently serving time in prison is facing a new trial after he wrote a threatening letter to the judge who sentenced him and replaced her name with obscenities, officials said.
Christopher Michael Shenberger, 43, of White Lake, is currently serving a sentence of 75-180 months at the Carson City Correctional Facility for criminal sexual conduct charges stemming from a November 2014 case.
He received his sentence from Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk on Sept. 14, 2016.
In December 2021, Shenberger sent a letter to Draganchuk complaining about the possibility that he might be denied parole for failing to complete a required sex offender program in prison.
The letter addressed Draganchuk by using obscenities in place of her full name, according to authorities.
Shenberger wrote that if he was forced to serve the maximum sentence, he would put the names of everyone on the docket on slips of paper, put those slips into a jar, and draw one out. Whoever’s name he drew from the jar would be killed, he threatened, officials said.
“I really do not give a rat’s a-- on who dies that I pick,” Shenberger is accused of writing. “Someone’s going, and I’ll get my revenge one way or the other.”
Shenberger has been charged in Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court with one count of communicating a false threat of terrorism, which is a 20-year felony.
“Attacks and threats against our judges or courts are unacceptable anywhere justice and public safety are valued,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. “Revenge threats over an old conviction -- that’s a real fear for some prosecutors and judges, and will be robustly prosecuted.”
A trial date for Shenberger has been set for Oct. 30, 2023, in front of visiting Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John McBain.