A Florida woman has been apprehended by police under the instruction of the FBI after uttering three threatening words down the phone to a local insurance firm.
Despite never having accumulated any criminal convictions, 42-year-old mother-of-three Briana Boston has this week been charged with threatening to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
The charges against Boston have been set out in an affidavit, which alleges that she called BlueCross Blue Shield insurance on Tuesday 10 December, and threatened the firm via telephone.
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She'd contacted the firm about medical insurance claims, which had been denied.
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The end of the conversation heard her mutter three particularly poignant words: "Delay, Deny, Depose."
While the turn of phrase might seem somewhat nonsensical, they echo the words allegedly etched by Luigi Mangione into bullets that were used to fatally gun down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York.
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Mangione. who was arrested recently and charged with the murder, was found with a note in his possession that accused Thompson of having 'abused our country for immense profit' and claiming that the 'American public has allowed them to get away with it'.
He added that 'these parasites had it coming' and 'I do apologise for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done'.
Similarly, Boston added at the end of the phone call - which had been recorded: "You people are next."
The FBI subsequently contacted Lakeland Police Department, and instructed them to apprehend her.
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The affidavit noted the similarities between the remarks made between both Mangione and Boston's threats, with the phrase, 'Delay, Deny, Depose' having become nationally recognised as a phrase 'directed against insurance companies'.
After arriving at her home, however, Boston was honest about the words used, telling arresting officers that 'healthcare companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil'.
She also claimed to have used the eerie turn of phrase 'because it’s what is in the news right now', having learned of the threat through the US' Luigi Mangione coverage.
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Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor told press of Boston's arrest: "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."
Speaking of her phrasing, he added: "She readily admitted that, ‘Yeah that’s exactly what I said but I didn’t mean anything by it’.
"Well, you don’t get to pull that back after you say it."
As well as the charges made against her, she remains on a $100,000 bail.
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A judge said of the hefty amount: "I do find that the bond of $100,000 is appropriate considering the status of our country at this point."
Boston's lawyer Jim Headley later told the judge: "My client is 42, married mother of three. Never had any criminal charges or convictions.
"May you release her on her own recognisance."
Topics: Crime, News, US News, Luigi Mangione
Rhianna Benson