Derrick Callella fake Nancy Guthrie ransom texts to Savannah Guthrie’s family as California man with history of unemployment fraud attempts to inject himself in family’s hostage crises.
Maybe he should get a life…? A California man accused of sending phony ransom texts to Savannah Guthrie’s family about her missing mother has a prior criminal history that includes defrauding the state government on welfare fraud charges.
Derrick Anthony Callella, 43, messaged Guthrie’s daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni about the ailing 84-year-old on Wednesday, according to the complaint filed in Arizona federal court.
‘Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,’ the want to be criminal, sent in a message to both Annie and Cioni.
Ransom texts followed by 9-second call to Nancy Guthrie family member
Approximately three minutes after sending the texts, data obtained by authorities showed Callella also made a nine-second call to an unidentified family member of Nancy Guthrie, according to February 4 court documents, which didn’t name the relative he allegedly called.
Callella was previously charged with felony grand theft after stealing almost $9,984 in unemployment benefits between May 6, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2022, for illegally obtaining unemployment state benefits. At the time, the California man was serving as a case department of health services intermediate clerk in Los. Angeles county.
Perennial fraudster wanted to see if desperate family would respond
Callella’s alleged sick messages to Guthrie relatives came soon after the ‘Today’ co-host and her siblings released an emotional video pleading for their mother’s possible abductors to send proof of life, the complaint said.
The relatives reported the messages to police, who tracked the number to Callella’s residence in California, court documents state.
There, Callella confessed to officers that he had been following the case on TV and he sent the two text messages after digging up the Guthries’ contact information from a website.
‘He said … he was trying to see if the family would respond,’ the complaint said.
Callella’s charges include two counts of transmitting communication containing a demand or request for ransom in exchange for the release of a kidnapped person, the docs state.
His messages have not been connected to the alleged ransom note sent to an Arizona news outlet on Feb. 2, which listed millions of dollars in bitcoin in exchange for Nancy’s safe return, according to the complaint.
