A California man is facing criminal charges after allegedly demanding bitcoin payments from the Guthrie family whose mother disappeared Sunday in Tucson, Arizona.
Derrick Callella, 42, of Hawthorne, California, has been charged with transmitting a ransom demand related to a kidnapped person, and anonymous interstate communications intended to harass or threaten, according to Fox News.
The demand was in regards to Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. She is the mother of “Today” show’s Savannah Guthrie.
According to court documents, a Tucson TV station received a ransom demand on its online tip portal on Monday. The demand requested payment in bitcoin.
After the family released a video on Wednesday, Nancy Guthrie’s daughter and son-in-law each received texts demanding confirmation of payment, according to the criminal complaint.
According to The New York Post, Callella, “who is in his mid-forties, texted Guthrie’s daughter, Annie, and son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni about the missing elderly woman on Wednesday, according to the complaint filed in Arizona federal court.”
One of his alleged messages read, “Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction.”
Authorities said the texts were traced to an email account belonging to Callella. IP address records revealed they were sent from his house.
Callella allegedly admitted to investigators he sent the texts and called the family to follow up. This led authorities to obtain an arrest warrant.
The earlier ransom note sent to the TV station has not been directly linked to the texts, according to court documents.
