A New York State Department of Health employee who was charged with stalking and harassing family members of the slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been put on leave from his job.
Shane Daley, 40, was arrested last week and accused of “sending harassing and threatening voicemail messages to a family member” of Thompson, according to authorities.
His employer said in a statement on Tuesday that Daley was placed on administrative leave.
“This alleged behavior in no way reflects the Department’s values or mission,” a spokesperson for the department said. “We condemn hate speech, harassment of victims of a senseless crime and any threats of violence.”
Daley’s attorney, Samuel Breslin, said in an email that his client’s “rights, including the presumption of innocence, are preserved as we continue to review the facts and evidence.”
Daley is from Galway, New York, about 35 miles northwest of Albany. He was hired at the state’s Department of Health in January of last year, according the agency’s spokesperson.
Authorities said that Daley made threatening phone calls to Thompson’s family members from Dec. 4 to Dec. 7 in the hours just after the late CEO was gunned down on the streets of midtown Manhattan.
“In a series of voicemail messages, Daley used threatening and harassing language that focused on, among other things, Thompson’s killing, expressed satisfaction over the fact and manner of his death, and stated that the victim and Thompson’s children deserved to meet the same violent end,” prosecutors said in a statement last week.
Daley was released from custody under GPS monitoring, officials said last week. He is also temporarily prohibited from obtaining firearms or consuming alcohol.
Thompson, 50, was fatally shot in December by a masked gunman outside the New York Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan, hours before he was set to speak at UnitedHealth Group’s investor conference.
After a days-long manhunt for the gunman, authorities arrested 27 year old Luigi Mangione and charged him with state and federal charges in connection with Thompson’s murder. Mangione pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted of federal charges.
Thompson’s killing and Mangione’s arrest prompted a national debate about the high costs of healthcare in the United States. A legal defense fund for Mangione has surpassed $1.2 million since he was arrested in December.
On Tuesday, Mangione’s attorneys filed a letter requesting an evidentiary hearing to discuss what they say is prosecutorial misconduct on the part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in their pursuit of Mangione’s medical records.
“This calculated lack of transparency is concerning, as the files that Aetna produced contained medical diagnoses and statements made by Mr. Mangione to health care providers to receive medical care and treatment,” one of Mangione’s attorneys, Karen Agnifilo, wrote in a letter to the judge.
Mangione is scheduled to next appear in state court on September 16.
Madison Lambert contributed.
