New York man charged with cyberstalking family of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO

A New York man has been charged with cyberstalking for allegedly sending harassing and threatening voicemail messages to a family member of murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors allege that between December 4 and 7, and beginning just hours after Thompson was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan, Shane Daley, 40, of Galway, called a work phone line used by a member of Thompson’s family and left multiple voicemails, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.

In the messages, Daley allegedly used threatening and harassing language about Thompson’s killing, expressed satisfaction over his death, and said the victim and Thompson’s children deserved the same violent fate.

“Daley, as alleged, gleefully welcomed this tragedy and did all that he could to increase the Thompson family’s pain and suffering,” said acting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III. “My office and its partners will now do all that we can to hold him accountable for this vicious and outrageous conduct.”

Daley was arrested on Wednesday and is has been arraigned in Albany. The cyberstalking charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

Thompson was killed on December 4, outside a Manhattan hotel in what authorities have described as a politically motivated attack. Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the accused shooter, Luigi Mangione, who was arrested in Pennsylvania five days after the killing.