Mark Anderson, a 36-year-old man from Minnesota, has been arrested for allegedly impersonating an FBI agent in an attempt to free Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
According to NBC News, the man showed up at the federal prison on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. After entering the intake area of the detention center, Anderson claimed he had a court order authorizing the release of an inmate.
According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, when prison workers asked to see Anderson’s credentials, he presented his Minnesota driver’s license and “claimed to be in possession of weapons,” which Bureau of Prisons workers later determined to be a barbecue fork and a “round steel blade” resembling a pizza cutter.
☕️‼️ BREAKING: A Minnesota man named Mark Anderson allegedly posed as an FBI agent to free Luigi Mangione from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. He presented a fake court order and carried a BBQ fork and pizza cutter as “weapons.” pic.twitter.com/8rCPtij5k0
— The Tea Brief (@theteabrief) January 29, 2026
The man also claimed “he was an FBI Agent in possession of paperwork ‘signed by a judge’ authorizing the release of a specific inmate.” While the official complaint did not specify the name of the inmate, law enforcement sources told ABC News that Anderson was allegedly seeking the release of Luigi Mangione.
The complaint further stated that “Anderson also displayed and threw at [Bureau of Prisons] officers numerous documents” that “appear to be related to filing claims against the United States Department of Justice.”
According to a law enforcement source, the man initially traveled to New York from Mankato, Minnesota, in search of work. After failing to secure a job, he began working at a local pizzeria.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said a magistrate judge found that Anderson posed a flight risk and ordered him detained.
Anderson is reportedly facing a charge of impersonating an officer. He appeared before a judge on Thursday, January 29, 2026, but did not enter a plea.
Meanwhile, Luigi Mangione has been held at the federal detention facility in Brooklyn since December 2024, following his capture after a five-day manhunt in Altoona, Pennsylvania, nearly 300 miles (483 kilometers) west of New York City.
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Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to murder and terror charges in the death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. pic.twitter.com/JwB4kqv1Lu
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 23, 2024
Mangione is facing charges of second-degree murder and four federal counts, including two counts of stalking, one count of murder and one count of using a firearm to commit murder. He has been accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024.
Thompson’s murder and Luigi Mangione’s arrest sparked a broader discourse about health care costs in the U.S. The defendant also attracted a horde of supporters, both on social media and in court.
While Mangione pleaded not guilty to all charges, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in April 2025 that the Trump administration would seek the death penalty for what she described as “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Jury selection for Luigi Mangione’s highly anticipated federal trial is reportedly scheduled for September 2026.
