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 Guthrieās disappearance. She is the mother of āTodayā showās 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 Guthrieās daughter and son-in-law each received texts demanding confirmation of payment, according to the criminal complaint.
According to The New York Post, Callella, āwho is in his mid-forties, texted Guthrieās daughter, Annie, and son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni about the missing elderly woman on Wednesday, according to the complaint filed in Arizona federal court.ā
One of his alleged messages read, āDid you get the bitcoin were waiting on our end for the transaction.ā
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.