this week Legally WeRachael Bennett, Certified Family Law Specialist and Senior Attorney at Sullivan Law & Associatesbreaks down the legal repercussions facing Derrick Callella, the Los Angeles man accused of sending the fake rescue note to the authorities about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.
Los Angeles Magazine reported on February 5 that the former LA County employee had new federal charges against him after initially sent a text message a by Savannah Guthrie sister, Annie Guthrieand Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni.
The text read: “You received the bitcoin we were (sic) waiting on our end for the transaction.” Callella then allegedly made a phone call to an unidentified relative of Nancy, 84, that lasted nine seconds.
“It’s illegal to transmit a ransom demand or extortion threat across state lines, which basically means by phone, email, text, social media, any of the above,” Bennett tells Us Weekly. “If someone sends a message saying, ‘Pay me or your loved one will be hurt,’ even when they know that’s not true, that can still qualify as extortion or interstate threatening communications, and that can lead to significant jail time. The bottom line of this is exploiting a family’s fear during a crisis like this is not only cruel, it’s even a felony, even a felony.”
Los Angeles magazine reported that Callella admitted to sending the ransom demands. The outlet noted that he told the FBI “that he pulled family information from a cyber website and that he had been following and watching TV.” He told authorities his text messages were an attempt to “see if the family was responding.”
“The (Guthrie) family would absolutely have a civil case here regardless of what the government decides to prosecute,” Bennett tells us. “There’s also a strong case for the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Exploiting a family in a situation like this is exactly the kind of extreme and outrageous conduct that courts look for in cases like this. I would say the key difference here is that criminal court is always about punishment, civil court is about compensation. Even if that defendant faces prison time, his own family court could still pursue his own civil court.”
UPDATE 12/2/26, 2:30 pm ET: A second email claiming to have information about who took Nancy Guthrie has been received, according to TMZ. The outlet reported that a message was sent shortly after 8 a.m. PT on Thursday, February 12, with the mystery person stating, “I’m not being taken seriously.” TMZ did not disclose (…)
Nancy was last seen in Arizona on January 31st and went missing the next day.
On Tuesday, February 10, the FBI released the first surveillance photos and video footage of a subject outside Nancy’s Tuscon, Arizona home. The person was wearing a mask and gloves and tried to cover the Nest camera with a branch. In one image, the individual appeared to be armed with a handgun.
Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, has been reported missing in Arizona. “This is very concerning to us. We don’t normally put the sheriff out on a scene like this. But it’s very concerning what we’re learning from the house,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a press conference on Sunday, February 1. “And so (…)
A man named Carlos Palazuelos was later arrested and questioned by police that same day for his possible connection to the investigation. He was later released and denied any involvement in Nancy’s disappearance.
Amid the disappearance of his mother, Savannah and her siblings have shared several requests for help. In an emotional video posted via Instagram on Saturday, February 7, Savannah spoke directly to the possible kidnapper.
She said, “Now we ask you to give us back our mother so that we can celebrate with her. Only then will we have peace. This is very valuable to us and we will pay.”
For a full rundown of Legally Us, watch the video above.