A Florida woman was arrested for invoking words reportedly found at the scene of the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thomas in a phone call with her insurance provider.
42-year-old Briana Boston was arrested on Tuesday and charged with threatening to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism after she allegedly said, “Delay, deny, depose, you people are next” while on the phone with representatives of BlueCross BlueShield.
Thompson’s killer inscribed bullet casings with the words “defend,” “deny” and “depose,” law enforcement said last week, a reference to the playbook insurance companies run to keep claim rejection rates high.
The call was referred to Lakeland law enforcement by the FBI and treated as a threat due to the phrase “directed against insurance companies,” police told local outlet WFLA.
Boston told police at her home that she did use the phrase but that she “was not a danger to anyone” and didn’t own any weapons.
“Healthcare companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil,” she reportedly told officers, adding that she used the phrase “because it’s what is in the news right now."
Still, a judge set her bond at $100,000, citing "the status of our country at this point." She is currently being held at the Polk County jail.
While Boston is one of the first individuals arrested for allegedly making copycat threats, a grip of “wanted posters” appeared in New York City this week threatening other health insurance executives, NBC News reported. Some execs have beefed up their security details, worried they might be future targets, per CNBC.
A suspect has been charged in Thompson’s killing: Luigi Mangione, who was reportedly apprehended with a manifesto alleging insurers were “parasites [who] simply had it coming.”
