A former LA County employee has been charged with attempted fraud by Savannah Guthrie family as they continue their search for the today the anchor’s missing mother.
Los Angeles Magazine informed on Thursday, February 5, which Derrick Callellahe was previously involved in an overtime theft case last October before having new federal charges brought against him after he allegedly contacted the missing grandmother’s family. Nancy Guthrie84.
Callella was one of 13 LA County employees accused of stealing $430,000 in unemployment benefits between 2020 and 2023.
“As government employees, we have an obligation to uphold the public’s trust,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney. Nathan J. Hochman he said through a press release in October 2025.
He continued: “When an official steals from the government, that trust is broken. The scale of the fraud in these cases is shocking, spanning seven different county agencies, including employees whose very job was to help the public determine whether they were eligible for public benefits. Most egregiously, these individuals allegedly claimed to be unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic when millions of Californians were in need of legitimate unemployment benefits in Los Angeles. Auditor-Comptroller Oscar Valdez for their partnership and commitment to holding government employees accountable. Today we are warning all government employees: if you steal from taxpayers, you will be prosecuted.”
According to court documents seen by Us Weekly on Thursday, Callella was allegedly connected to what the FBI described as an “impostor” ransom scam. after he contacted Nancy’s family after her disappearance.
For a criminal complaint obtained by we, Callella initially texted Savannah’s sister Annie Guthrie and Annie’s husband Tommaso Cioni
The text read: “You received the bitcoin we were (sic) waiting on our end for the transaction.”
Savannah Guthrie.
(Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Haddad Media)Callella then allegedly made a phone call to an unidentified relative of Nancy’s, which lasted nine seconds.
Authorities located Callella on Thursday morning, who admitted to sending the ransom demands. He told the FBI “that he pulled family information from a cyber website and that he had been stalking and watching television.” He told authorities his text messages were an attempt to “see if the family was responding.”
Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix FBI, Heath Janke, directed the ransom note received by the Guthrie family through a press conference held on Thursday, February 5.
“I think we’re starting to look at what the terms were in the memo,” Janke shared. “First, I think today was 5 p.m., and then I had a second deadline after that. So we’re still in a normal kidnapping case, now there would be contact to try to discuss it. But those are the time frames we’re looking at as we go forward.”
Annie Guthrie and her husband Tommaso Cioni were the ones who received rescue text messages from con man Derrick Callella after Nancy Guthrie went missing. According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, February 5, Annie and Cioni received text messages from Callella after the Guthrie family, which includes Annie, Camron and Savannah Guthrie (…)
Regarding the “impostor ransom” arrest, Janke added: “We have made an arrest related to an impostor ransom demand and a complaint will be filed before a magistrate judge today.”
He continued: “There is no evidence to connect this to Nancy’s case. It was someone who was trying to take advantage of her.”
Janke also warned that the authorities would come down hard on anyone trying to exploit the Guthries’ situation for profit.
“To those imposters who try to take advantage and profit from this situation, we will investigate them and make sure they are held accountable for their actions,” he said. “This is an 84-year-old grandmother who needs vital medication for her well-being. You still have time to do the right thing before this turns into a worse, much worse scenario for you.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed news of Nancy’s disappearance on Sunday, February 1, sharing a missing person report via X. Nancy was described as a “vulnerable adult” who was last seen “at her residence” in the Catalina Foothills area of Arizona on the afternoon of Saturday, January 31.