A California man has pleaded guilty to sending fake ransom messages to the family of missing Arizona woman Nancy Guthrie, admitting that he intended to harᴀss them during the ongoing kidnapping investigation.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, 42-year-old Derrick Callella, of Hawthorne, California, pleaded guilty on July 2 to two counts of harᴀssment using a telecommunications device.

Prosecutors said Callella admitted that on Feb. 4 he called and sent text messages to Guthrie’s family demanding a Bitcoin payment while falsely implying he had information about her disappearance.

In a statement, federal prosecutors said Callella knew that an earlier ransom demand had already been made and acknowledged that his messages were intended to harᴀss the family while attempting to obtain information about the investigation.

He now faces a maximum sentence of two years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both, in addition to one year of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 10.

Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of TODAY host Savannah Guthrie, was reportedly abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, home during the early morning hours of Feb. 1. More than five months later, investigators have not identified any official suspects in her disappearance.

The guilty plea comes as the FBI continues to investigate multiple ransom communications connected to the case.

In an update released this week, the FBI’s Phoenix Field Office confirmed that investigators have received several ransom notes since Nancy’s disappearance. While some have been determined to be fraudulent extortion attempts, officials said others have not been ruled out and remain under active investigation as potentially legitimate.

The FBI’s statement followed a Reuters report citing a source familiar with the investigation who said several ransom notes—including two sent shortly after Nancy’s disappearance and another claiming to know the idenтιтies of her alleged kidnappers—were fake.

According to the report, investigators determined that the first two ransom notes originated from the same sender. One demanded millions of dollars in cryptocurrency and was sent to TMZ, while another falsely claimed that Nancy had died shortly after her abduction.

Despite the false communications, the FBI emphasized that Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance continues to be investigated as a kidnapping-for-ransom case.

Nancy was last seen at her Tucson home at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 31. She was reported missing the following day after failing to attend a virtual church service.

Investigators have previously said they are continuing to analyze DNA evidence and digital data in hopes of generating new leads as the search for Nancy Guthrie remains ongoing.

Souree: People