(NewsNation) — A 40-year-old upstate New York man was arrested Wednesday on federal cyberstalking charges for allegedly sending threatening voicemail messages to a family member of murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the days following his December killing.
Shane Daley of Galway was charged with cyberstalking after authorities say he made multiple harassing calls between Dec. 4 and 7, 2024, beginning just hours after Thompson was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan.
According to a criminal complaint, Daley placed several calls to a work phone line used by a Thompson family member, leaving voicemails that expressed satisfaction over Thompson’s death and said the victim and Thompson’s children “deserved to meet the same violent end.”
“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 of the Northern District of New York.
The cyberstalking charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release.
Thompson, 50, was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024 in what authorities called a targeted attack. The killing sparked widespread attention and debate over the health insurance industry.
Daley is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart in Albany. The FBI investigated the case.
