California man charged over imposter ransom demand in Nancy Guthrie case makes court appearance

A California man charged in connection with sending a fake ransom demand in the case of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance made a court appearance in Arizona before being released from federal custody.Derrick Callella, 42, of Hawthorne, Calif., was charged by the Justice Department with transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce, and without disclosing his identity, utilizing a telecommunications device with intent to abuse, threaten, or harass a person. He made his first appearance at the federal courthouse in Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday, KOLD 13 News reported.
Callella allegedly sent the demands via two text messages to Guthrie’s family on Feb. 4 — her oldest daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni. He also allegedly made a nine-second phone call to a family member.
Per court records, Callella allegedly used a VOIP (internet) phone line to send a message reading, “Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction.”
The messages were sent moments after the Guthrie family released the first video message to the kidnappers, asking for proof of life, according to investigators.
The phone line was traced by law enforcement and found to be registered to Callella’s Gmail account, and they determined the call was made from his home.
The texts were not linked to the first ransom demand reported by multiple outlets, authorities said.
Callella was released under the conditions that he has no contact with any victims or witnesses in the case, and law enforcement will monitor all of his electronic devices.
He made his initial court appearance on Feb. 6 in California after being arrested, before his court appearance in Tucson. At the time of the court appearance in California, Callella was being held on a $20,000 bond.
“Through the course of the investigation, it was found that Callella was acting as an imposter, trying to take advantage of the ongoing situation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI will continue to hold this defendant accountable and any other individuals who seek to interfere with federal investigations or profit from the victim family’s grief,” the DOJ said.
Guthrie, 84, was reported missing around noon Feb. 1 after she did not show up for virtual church services. She was last seen the previous night, around 9:45 p.m., after having dinner at her daughter Annie Guthrie’s home in Tucson.
The FBI Phoenix field office on Thursday shared a description of a person they consider a suspect in Guthrie’s disappearance, describing him as “approximately 5’9 – 5’10 tall, with an average build.”

Read Full Article: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/man-charged-over-imposter-ransom-demand-nancy-guthrie-case-makes-court?utm_source=justthenews.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=external-news-aggregators