Wheaton woman admits making threat

A 25-year-old Wheaton woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to sending a threatening message to administrators at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus in February.

"I will be looking forward to doing a mass shooting anywhere on campus," wrote Mahtab Shirani at the time in an e-mail to university administrators and faculty.

The threat was taken seriously, coming just days after a mass shooting at the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Because Shirani used a campus computer, authorities were easily able to track her down and arrest her.

Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to transmitting a threat in interstate commerce before Judge Ruben Castillo. She will be sentenced Sept. 23 at 1 p.m., said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher R. McFadden.

"I think she's a good person, and she made a terrible mistake and she knows it," said Shirani's attorney George S. Pappas. "She was under a great deal of pressure at the time and having some emotion difficulties. But now she's on the right track and doing quite well."

Prosecutors will recommend Castillo sentence Shirani within federal sentencing guidelines, which recommend a sentence of 10-16 months, McFadden said.

Pappas said he will ask for leniency and a sentence of probation.