A Torrance man who was charged with sending a fake ransom demand to relatives of missing Arizona woman Nancy Guthrie pleaded guilty on Thursday, June 2, to harassing her family.
Nancy Guthrie, who is the mother of NBC “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen the night of Jan. 31 after she was dropped her off at her home near Tucson, Arizona. The 84-year-old was reported missing the next day. Authorities believe she had been kidnapped.
Derrick Callella, 42, pleaded guilty this week to two counts of harassment using a telecommunication device. He is scheduled for a Sept. 10 sentencing.
In his plea, Callella admitted that he called and sent text messages to Guthrie’s family on Feb. 4, which asked about a bitcoin transfer, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. (The statement identified Callela as a Hawthorne man, but public records show a Torrance address for him.)
Callella admitted in the plea agreement that his actions were meant to harass the family by seeking information about the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
Callela sent two texts to a daughter and son-in-law of Nancy Guthrie asking, “Did you get the bitcoin were (sic) waiting on our end for the transaction,” according to the criminal complaint.
Federal authorities learned the phone number was connected to a computer, got the IP address from where the messages were sent, and determined they were associated with Callella’s home, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Callella’s messages were sent after Nancy Guthrie’s family had published a video asking her kidnappers to contact them about their mother, the criminal complaint said.
Callella told authorities that he pulled family information from a website, and that he had been following along and watching television.
“When he said that he sent text messages, he was trying to see if the family would respond,” the complaint said.
About three minutes after the text messages, Callella called a relative of Nancy Guthrie, officials said.
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