Man Allegedly Showed Up to N.Y.C. Jail with 'Court Order' to Release Luigi Mangione. Now He's Charged with Impersonating FBI Agent By Ben Brachfeld

A man showed up to a New York City jail this week claiming to wield a court order to release Luigi Mangione — the suspect charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Now, the man is facing charges of his own for allegedly impersonating an FBI agent.

Federal prosecutors unveiled the charges Thursday against Mark Anderson, 36, who they allege went to Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 28, claiming to be a federal agent with an order to release the 27-year-old murder suspect.

When asked for credentials by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff, Anderson, a resident of Mankato, Minn., allegedly showed them a Minnesota driver’s license and then claimed he had weapons in his bag, according to a newly unsealed complaint.

Anderson was detained after allegedly throwing documents at BOP staff, per the complaint.

Inside his bag were a barbecue fork and a rounded blade that resembled a pizza cutter, per the complaint.

A law enforcement source tells PEOPLE that Anderson had recently been working at a pizzeria.

Anderson is set to be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday, Jan. 29.

The unsealed complaint does not specify the name of the inmate Anderson sought to free, but the law enforcement source confirmed to PEOPLE it was Mangione.

No court has ordered the release of Mangione, who is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel hosting an investors’ conference early in the morning of Dec. 4, 2024.

In fact, the federal government still hopes to seek the death penalty against Mangione. This month, Judge Margaret Garnett of the Southern District of New York said she’d like his trial to begin in January 2027 if the death penalty remains on the table.

Should capital punishment be ruled out, Garnett wants Mangione’s trial to start on Oct. 13 of this year. He is due back in federal court on Friday, Jan. 30 for a status conference.

Mangione is also facing a parallel New York state prosecution on second-degree murder charges. This week, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office sent a letter to the judge overseeing the case, Gregory Carro, requesting a July 1 start date for the state trial.

Prosecutors contend the state’s interests “would be unfairly prejudiced by an unnecessary delay” should the feds get the first bite of the apple at one of the nation’s highest-profile murder suspects in recent years.

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In a statement, Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, called the state’s request “unrealistic” given the defense team “will require the remainder of the year to prepare” for the federal trial. No ruling has been made on the matter.

Mangione has been detained at MDC since two weeks after Thompson’s death, after being captured at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s and then extradited back to New York. Other current detainees at MDC include the deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who each face drug trafficking and weapons charges.

Previous inmates during Mangione’s tenure have included disgraced rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.