A 38-year-old Chicago man has been sentenced to the maximum term of ten years in federal prison for waging a months-long campaign of death threats against a Mason City, Iowa, woman and her family, which authorities claim he continued to make even after being imprisoned in two different states. Shaninth Michael Ray pleaded guilty to one count of cyberstalking in April, acknowledging that he threatened to harm the victim and her relatives through phone calls, text messages, and videos posted on various platforms.
According to KIMT, Ray threatened to hit the victim in the face with a rock and, on another occasion, flashed a gun while threatening to kill her. The Mason City Police Department investigated the crime, and Ray was eventually prosecuted federally in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, docket number 24-3015, according to the US Department of Justice. Ray stated in his plea deal that he repeatedly threatened to kill the woman and her family between April and October of 2023.
According to the Justice Department, U.S. District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand imposed the statutory maximum 10-year sentence under the federal cyberstalking legislation, which will run concurrently with any other prison term Ray is currently serving or facing. That means Ray will spend the entire decade in addition to time owed in a separate case, rather than having the sentences overlap. Strand mentioned Ray’s criminal background as well as the incidents in which he terrorized the woman and her family, according to the source.
Ray’s criminal record includes earlier convictions for obstruction, harassment, interference with emergency communications, assault causing bodily harm, controlled substance possession, and several domestic violence offenses, according to KIMT, as well as violations of protective orders. He was also subject to a no-contact order at the time of the threats. Despite the injunction, Ray continued to contact the victim while being jailed in Minnesota and Iowa, according to the same report.
According to California Sex Crime Defense Attorneys, Ray’s threats crossed state lines electronically, resulting in the case being brought to federal court under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A. That provision, part of the 1996 Violence Against Women Act, was enacted to fill the void left by municipal protection orders that cannot reach a stalker who has crossed a state boundary. According to Eisner Gorin LLP, federal jurisdiction arises when someone uses electronic communications across state lines in a course of conduct that puts a victim or their family in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily harm, which is exactly what prosecutors allege Ray did to the Mason City woman and those around her.
According to the Justice Department, the case was pursued by Assistant US Attorney Ron Timmons and Assistant US Attorney Ashley Corkery. The federal cyberstalking legislation has a mandated minimum of one year and a maximum of ten years; therefore, Ray’s punishment is the toughest possible under the law. He’ll also have to spend three years of supervised release after he’s out of prison.
Ray’s case was heard in more than one federal court. In October 2023, he was caught in Minnesota for possessing a gun as a convicted felon. He was prosecuted separately under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) and received an above-Guidelines sentence from Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, according to Justia Law. On appeal, Ray argued that the penalty was substantively unreasonable and attacked the underlying felon-in-possession provision under the Second Amendment and the Commerce Clause.
On February 6, 2026, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments and upheld his Minnesota conviction, holding that federal limitations on felon firearm possession are still constitutional under binding circuit precedent, according to the same Justia Law report. That judgment paved the path for Judge Strand’s decision months later to make Ray’s Iowa sentence consecutive rather than concurrent, ensuring he receives no credit for the additional term while serving what he previously owed.
Because parole was abolished in the federal system by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Ray will have to complete at least 85 percent of his 10-year sentence before he can be released, according to the Justice Department. Federal inmates can receive up to 54 days of good conduct credit per year, but there is no parole board that can reduce the sentence beyond that amount. Ray is facing a significant period behind bars in addition to the time he already owes from Minnesota, given the consecutive nature of the Iowa term.
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