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Earlier this month, Florida prosecutors dropped charges against a woman who was arrested last year for threatening a healthcare company during a phone call.
On February 14, the State Attorney’s Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit issued a no-bill order for the charge — written or electronic threats to kill or do bodily injury — against Briana Boston, 42. The Lakeland Ledger reported that Boston was arrested on December 10, 2024, after she told an insurance representative, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.”
Boston’s alleged comments came almost a week after Luigi Mangione reportedly shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York. Bullets with the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” etched onto them were discovered at the crime scene.
Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson was shot near a Hilton hotel in Manhattan, New York, on December 4, 2024. Thompson was attending his company’s annual investor meeting when he was killed.
In addition to allegedly having a gun with a silencer and fake IDs, Mangione reportedly also had a 262-word “manifesto” that decried the healthcare industry as “parasites.” Shortly after Mangione’s arrest, New York officials held a press coverage in which they hinted at the motive in Thompson’s murder. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione, a data engineer with a master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, “has some ill will towards corporate America.
Boston reportedly uttered the phrase while discussing medical claims that were denied. According to the Lakeland Ledger, she admitted to learning about the phrase from recent news coverage about Thompson’s shooting death.
“[Boston] further stated the health care companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil,” an affidavit stated, referring to an interview she had with the FBI.
Lakeland police contacted the FBI, who interviewed Boston the same day she made the call.
Assistant State Attorney Joseph McCarthy revealed that Boston’s insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, sought the dismissal in this case.
“During our review of the case, representatives of the victims indicated to us that the defendant had been a good customer in the past, and that they wish to try to amicably settle this matter,” he wrote, per the Lakeland Ledger. “We have subsequently learned that defendant has made a sincere apology in a statement to BCBS and to the representative, and that both BCBS and the representative are satisfied and not seeking any sanctions against the defendant based on the facts and circumstances.”
A GoFundMe for Boston’s legal costs has amassed approximately $102,000.
[Feature Photo: Lakeland Police Department]
