KANSAS CITY– A Kansas City man has been sentenced in federal court for attempting to engage in abusive sexual contact with two court employees in the parking garage of the Charles Evans Whittaker United States Courthouse in Kansas City, according to the United State's Attorney.
Shane Russell Coy, 23, was sentenced Jan. 19, by U.S. Chief District Judge Eric F. Melgren from the District of Kansas to 15 years and eight months in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Coy to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.
On Nov. 1, 2023, Coy pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted abusive sexual contact.
Coy admitted that he unlawfully entered the courthouse underground parking garage on March 7, 2023. As Coy was walking outside by the parking garage exit, the overhead door to the garage exit began to open. As it opened, Coy stepped over the vehicle barricade into the garage exit and approached Victim 1, who was in the driver’s seat of her vehicle, stopped at the exit waiting for the overhead door to open and the vehicle barricade to go down so she could drive out of the garage. Because Victim 1 did not exit the garage soon enough, the exit overhead door and barricade closed, preventing her from driving out.
Coy pulled down his pants and began to masturbate, shouting at Victim 1 to get out of her car. Coy attempted to open a passenger door of the vehicle and punched the driver’s side window with a closed fist. Coy admitted that his actions in attempting to break into Victim 1’s vehicle were done with the specific intent to engage in sexual contact with Victim 1 by some level of force.
Coy then began to approach Victim 2, who had walked into the parking garage from the employee internal entryway door. Victim 2 was able to move away from Coy and position herself behind a vehicle. Coy admitted that he intended to engage in sexual contact with Victim 2 by some level of force.
Coy then ran to the employee entrance door and took an elevator up to the first floor, where he found himself within an enclosed vestibule leading out into the main lobby of the federal courthouse. After a brief period of time, law enforcement officers arrived and took Coy into custody without incident.
According to court documents, Coy was convicted of assault in 2020 after he sexually harassed and assaulted an attendant at a convenience store. Within months of being released from confinement for that conviction, Coy was arrested for the attempted sexual abuse of a postal worker while she was delivering mail at an apartment complex. Earlier on the same day, Coy had confronted a woman who was walking her dog. In all three instances, Coy exposed himself to the victims.
Coy has also been charged in Jackson County, Mo., with sexual misconduct and assault for a similar incident at another parking garage on Feb. 21, 2023. Additionally, according to court documents, on March 7, 2023, Coy exposed himself to two other women at the parking garage and chased one of the victims as she drove through the parking garage shortly before he walked over to the federal courthouse and engaged in the criminal conduct in this federal case.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth W. Borgnino. It was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.