Feds: Man gets jail for threats in voicemails at Muslim group office in Michigan

Yahoo

21-03-2025

A Florida man who left threatening and profanity-laced voicemail messages at the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison.
Michael Shapiro, 73, of West Palm Beach, pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in Detroit to one count of transmitting threats in interstate commerce. He was indicted in February 2024 on three counts of the same charge after making calls from his cell phone, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors asked for a 27-month sentence, consecutive to a separate 24-month sentence Shapiro is currently serving after being convicted in a federal court in Florida for threatening acts of violence.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors detailed Shapiro's history of threatening to harm or kill people and their families based on animus or political or personal disagreement, including U.S. Congressmembers and a U.S. Capitol Police agent.
Messages were left for his attorney, Elizabeth Young, who could not be reached Thursday.
In her sentencing memorandum, Young wrote Shapiro was battling severe major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder at the time of the offense; and that he "deeply regrets his actions in this case, and apologizes to every member of CAIR." She asked for a sentence of 15 months concurrent and six months consecutive to his Florida sentence.
Shapiro was accused of leaving six voicemails on the business phone number for CAIR Michigan's office in Canton over the course of two weeks in December 2023, according to his plea agreement, which indicated he was in Florida when he left the voicemails. CAIR is the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.
Federal prosecutors indicated that a Dec. 8 voicemail included maniacal laughter and stated: "I'm going to kill you b------s." A Dec. 14 voicemail repeatedly stated: "I'm going to kill you!" And a Dec. 15 voicemail, prosecutors stated, included: "You're a violent people. Why do you come to America? Why do you come to Europe? …"
Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum that Shapiro terrorized the people who worked at the Michigan CAIR chapter with the disturbing and threatening bias-motivated calls.
"These threats are just one piece of the defendant's ten-year history of threatening to harm others based on animus or disagreement," they wrote. "Despite being contacted by law enforcement over the years about his alarming calls — even having faced arrest and conviction for several — Shapiro has never been deterred and there is no reason to believe that he will be deterred in the future."
CAIR reported the calls to Canton police after the first two voicemails. After the third call, the group's executive director directed his employees to work remotely until after the new year out of concern for their safety, prosecutors wrote.
His threats did not stop.
"The defendant's last call consisted of nine seconds of what can be described as maniacal and unsettling laughter," prosecutors wrote. "The safety concern and fear caused by Shapiro's threats prompted CAIR's landlord to upgrade the security of CAIR's offices by installing new locks and key card access on the doors."
When employees returned to the office, the memorandum indicates, the group's staff attorney changed her schedule to make sure she wasn't in the building alone.
"The CAIR staff did not know that the defendant was calling from a different state; to them, they feared that the violence that Shapiro threatened could be imminent, especially given the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate incidents" since the war between Israel and Hamas that started in October 2023.
Prosecutors said Shapiro called a presidential candidate's campaign office in 2015 stating he was going to "harm her." They wrote when he was interviewed by law enforcement, he apologized and was not arrested.
Three years later, prosecutors wrote, he left three voicemails at the office of a U.S. Congresswoman, including one with repeated threats. Again, Shapiro apologized when interviewed by law enforcement and was not arrested, prosecutors wrote.
Later in 2018, he placed eight phone calls to the son of a U.S. Congressman, including one that repeatedly threatened: "Tell your father I'm going to kill him."
"When interviewed by the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in October 2019, the defendant apologized and said it would never happen again. That promise, like the ones before, proved to be hollow," prosecutors wrote. "Three weeks after the interview, the defendant called the U.S. Capitol Police several times, issuing a series of threats against the Capitol Police agent who had interviewed him."
Prosecutors wrote the threats included to kill the agent. For this, Shapiro was convicted of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and sentenced to three years' probation.
Not even 11 months after his probation term expired, prosecutors wrote, Shapiro issued the threats to CAIR. About the same time, they indicated, he also threatened a U.S. Congressman by leaving a series of five voicemails Dec. 19, 2023, one of which threatened to kill the Congressman's children and another threatened to kill him.
Shapiro was convicted of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and in August was sentenced to 24 months in prison, according to the sentencing memorandum.
His sentence of 18 months in the CAIR case is to be served after he finishes his time in prison in Florida.
In her sentencing memorandum, Young wrote: "Though no excuse for the harm he has caused, Mr. Shapiro's chronic mental health and substance use issues are important underlying factors that shed light on his behavior in this and prior cases. Mr. Shapiro was once a successful attorney in New York City. Now, he is disbarred, widowed, and alone. His alcoholism and depression have alienated him from his children, impaired his judgment, and led him to act impulsively in response to politically divisive news stories."
She wrote that Shapiro is ashamed of his actions in this case and in prior cases; he accepts full responsibility, and acknowledges that he needs professional help to address his depression and alcoholism. She indicated he didn't intend to carry out any act of violence, but his words caused fear among the employees and Muslim community.
She wrote that Shapiro, an only child, was born in Romania and his family fled to the U.S. as refugees when he was 13. His father, a Holocaust survivor, had been imprisoned for political reasons. His father's stories about his experience in a German concentration camp in Romania impacted Shapiro "and no doubt shaped his perception of the world at an early age."
Young wrote that Shapiro married, had two daughters and became a personal injury attorney and real estate broker in New York City. But, he was battling a serious alcohol addiction and over time "self-destructed," alienated himself from his family and fell apart at work. He engaged in bankruptcy fraud in 1996 to which he turned himself in, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years of probation, according to Young's memorandum. It indicates he still makes restitution payments to victims in the case.
Young wrote that Shapiro was investigated for commercial bribery from 1994 to around 2002. It didn't lead to a conviction, according to her memorandum, but he was disbarred in 1999. He and his wife divorced in 2004.
"Shapiro further reflected to counsel: 'I became insignificant in my own life. In order to have a voice in my life I started drinking. And I listened to what's going on in the world around me. I wanted my voice to be heard, so I started making phone calls,'" according to the memorandum.
Shapiro's second wife died from cancer in 2008; he developed symptoms of depression, retired and moved to Florida to care for aging parents who were in poor health and eventually died. He checked himself into a psychiatric hospital in Florida for two days and began drinking more heavily to cope with his grief and loneliness, Young wrote.
"Aside from drinking, Shapiro's sole activity of choice was watching Fox News. Shapiro felt a connection with the anchors on Fox News. Shapiro told counsel: 'They were my lifeline to society,'" according to her memorandum. "Shapiro's depression during this decade of his life made him uniquely vulnerable to the messaging being fed to him through the television. He internalized the vitriol, and fear consumed him. It was in this state of mind that Shapiro made threatening phone calls."
Contact Christina Hall: [e-mail]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Man gets jail for voicemail threats at Muslim group office in Michigan