A California man has now reportedly pleaded guilty to sending multiple fake ransom notes connected to the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie, according to federal authorities.
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing after disappearing from her Arizona home in February. Since her disappearance, investigators have examined numerous ransom notes in an effort to determine whether any were authentic and could provide credible information about the case.
On Thursday, 42-year-old Derrick Callella admitted to sending fraudulent ransom messages to the Guthrie family, bringing one aspect of the ongoing investigation to a close.
According to a report from People, Callella acknowledged that he contacted the family on Feb. 4 by making phone calls and sending text messages concerning a bitcoin transfer.
Federal prosecutors said Callella was aware that an earlier ransom demand had already been made before he sent his own communications.
In a statement announcing the guilty plea, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Callella admitted that he intentionally sought to harass the Guthrie family while attempting to obtain information about the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
“Callella acknowledged that he knew an earlier ransom demand had been made,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its release. “Callella also admitted that his actions were meant to harass the family by seeking information about the investigation into the missing person’s disappearance.”
Authorities have spent months reviewing a series of purported ransom demands that surfaced following Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. Each communication required investigators to assess whether it contained legitimate information or was simply an attempt to exploit the high-profile case.
The guilty plea confirms that at least some of those messages were fabricated and intentionally sent despite the active investigation.
Callella now faces significant legal consequences for his actions. Federal prosecutors said he could receive a maximum sentence of two years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. In addition, he could be sentenced to one year of supervised release following any prison term.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10.
The disappearance has also drawn considerable media attention, with celebrity news outlet TMZ playing a prominent role after receiving several of the alleged ransom notes directly.
Although the FBI recently determined that the notes received by TMZ were fake, the outlet’s founder, Harvey Levin, has publicly maintained that a source within the bureau offered a different assessment.
According to the report, Levin said an FBI source told him it was “more likely than not” that the notes were genuine, despite the bureau’s more recent determination that the communications sent to TMZ were fraudulent.
The guilty plea by Callella represents a notable development in the investigation surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, particularly after months of investigators sorting through numerous purported ransom demands.
While authorities have established that Callella’s communications were fabricated and intended to harass the family, investigators have continued examining information related to the broader disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, whose case has remained the subject of ongoing public attention since she vanished from her Arizona home earlier this year.
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