Police say a woman from Lakeland used phrases found on the shell casings from the recent killing of the United Healthcare CEO to threaten her own insurance company.
Police say a Florida woman used phrases found on the shell casings from the recent killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO to threaten her own insurance company.
Authorities say in a recorded phone call about a denied insurance claim, Lakeland resident Briana Boston told a Blue Cross Blue Shield employee, "Delay, deny, depose. You people are next."
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The bullet casings found at the scene of where Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of killing CEO Brian Thompson, 50, in New York City said "deny," "defend," and "depose," law enforcement sources told NBC News.
An affidavit noted the similarities between the incidents, stating that those words have become nationally recognized as a phrase “directed against insurance companies.”
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Lakeland police were alerted by the FBI on Tuesday about the alarming incident.
“She’s been in this world long enough that she certainly should know better that you can’t make threats like that in the current environment that we live in and think that we’re not going to follow up and put you in jail,” said Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor, NBC affiliate WPTV reported.
Police made contact with Boston at her home in Lakeland, where she reportedly admitted to using those words during the call, telling detectives that “healthcare companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil.”
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Boston allegedly told detectives she used the phrase “because it’s what is in the news right now,” and that she had learned of the phrase due to the UnitedHealthcare homicide.
She also said she does not own any firearms and “was not a danger to anyone,” police said.
Boston was charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, according to the affidavit. She could face 15 years in prison if found guilty.
“My client is 42, married mother of three. Never had any criminal charges or convictions. May you release her on her own recognizance,” her attorney Jim Headley said to a judge during her first appearance in court.
However, the judge set her bond at $100,000, stating, “I do find that the bond of $100,000 is appropriate considering the status of our country at this point.”
