NEW: FBI Poser Caught Attempting To Break Luigi Mangione Out Of Jail
A Minnesota man was arrested after allegedly turning up Wednesday night at a New York federal jail, claiming to be an FBI agent and saying he had a court order from a judge to release Luigi Mangione, who is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.
The man, identified as 36-year-old Mark Anderson of Mankato, was questioned by Bureau of Prisons staff at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. When asked for credentials, Anderson produced a Minnesota driver’s license, prosecutors said. Mangione is being held at the jail without bail.
Anderson also allegedly told officers he had weapons in a bag he was carrying.
Inside the bag, authorities found a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade resembling a pizza cutter, according to the complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.
“Anderson also displayed and threw at the BOP officers numerous documents,” an FBI agent wrote in the complaint.
“I have reviewed those papers and they appear to be related to filing of claims against the United States Department of Justice,” the agent wrote.
Anderson is charged with impersonating an FBI agent and was scheduled to be present Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn federal court.
The complaint does not name the inmate Anderson allegedly sought to free, but a law enforcement official confirmed it was Mangione, 27.
Anderson had traveled to New York City for a job opportunity that fell through and had been working in a pizzeria, according to the official.
The arrest came just hours after state prosecutors in Manhattan Supreme Court urged a judge to schedule Mangione’s murder trial for July.
Mangione’s mugshot
That would be two months before jury selection is set to begin in Mangione’s separate federal case in Manhattan, where the University of Pennsylvania graduate faces multiple charges tied to Thompson’s killing. Thompson was a Minnesota resident whose company is the nation’s largest private health insurer.
Prosecutors allege Mangione stalked and then fatally shot Thompson on the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, as the executive walked into a midtown Manhattan hotel for a UnitedHealth Group investors’ event.
Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
He has pleaded not guilty in both the state and federal cases.
Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if Mangione is convicted. A judge could decide as soon as this week whether the case will move forward as a potential capital prosecution.
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