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A Dallas man who sent threatening letters to U.S. judges and mailed envelopes containing white powder to a Fort Worth courthouse was sentenced to federal prison, officials said.
Donald Ray McCray, 67, was found guilty in April and was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a news release on Wednesday.
A federal jury convicted McCray of three counts of mailing threatening communications and one count of hoax weapons of mass destruction. According to officials, he mailed threatening letters to several U.S. district court judges in the Northern District of Texas and the Eastern District of New York and sent hoax biological weapons to the federal courthouse in Fort Worth.
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While incarcerated in a Texas state prison, McCray sent multiple letters containing white powder to the court clerk at the Fort Worth and Amarillo federal courthouses in March 2025, according to court documents.
In those letters, McCray threatened to kill state and federal government employees, including federal district court judges. After being indicted in June 2025, McCray appeared at a federal court hearing and made further threats against government employees and district judges, the release stated.
“Donald McCray’s threats were aimed at the very core of our justice system,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in the release. “Sending white powder and violent messages to judges and court staff is a criminal attempt to bully and destabilize the institutions that our system of justice relies on. Our office will always defend the integrity of the courts and hold those that threaten public servants fully accountable.”
“Threats against federal and state government employees are serious crimes that undermine our system of government. No public servant should be forced to confront this kind of intimidation,” FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said in the release. “We would like to thank our state, local, and federal law enforcement partners for working together to secure this sentence.”
McCray will be transferred back to state custody to stand trial on a charge of attempted murder of a prison guard, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Shambhavi covers crime, law enforcement and other breaking news in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. She graduated from the University of North Texas and previously covered a variety of general assignment topics in West Texas. She grew up in Nepal.