Northern Iowa man pleads guilty to cyberstalking

CEDAR RAPIDS – A man who used Facebook and the mail to stalk another person pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Michael Shawn McGuire, age 57, from Cresco, Iowa, was convicted of four counts of cyberstalking.

At the plea hearing, McGuire admitted that he used Facebook and the mail to engage in conduct to harass and intimidate another person and cause substantial emotional distress to that person. Evidence from a previous hearing in this case established that between August 25, 2018, and May 25, 2019, numerous yard signs were posted where the victim resided in Minnesota. The signs were sexually explicit and contained the victim’s name, telephone number, address, and email address. During this same time period, various friends, family members, and associates of the victim received sexually explicit mailings with semi-nude photos of the victim. In addition, various Facebook profiles sent similar semi-nude photos to some of the victim’s contacts through Facebook and various fake dating profiles associated with the victim were created.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. McGuire remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. McGuire faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a possible $250,000 fine per count, and up to 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ashley Corkery and Kyndra Lundquist. This case was investigated by the Minnesota Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, the Willmar, Minnesota Police Department, the Litchfield Minnesota Police Department, the Minnesota Renville County Sheriff’s Office, the Minnesota Pipestone County Sheriff’s Office, the Cresco, Iowa Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.