(NewsNation) — A California man was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to sending a fake ransom note to the family of Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing since February.
Derrick Callella, 42, admitted to two federal felony counts of transmitting communications containing a demand for ransom, reported KOLD-TV. His sentencing is set for September 10.
The FBI said Callella texted two of Guthrie’s family members Feb. 4. He also allegedly made a nine-second call to a family member.
“Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,” one text allegedly read, according to court documents.
Minutes later, investigators said cellphone data showed Callella made a nine-second call to a Guthrie family member.
Nancy Guthrie update: FBI asserts some ransom notes ‘potentially legitimate’
According to court documents, Callella later admitted he had been following the case on television and found the family’s contact information online, saying he sent the messages “to see if the family would respond.”
“The Department of Justice will protect victims and families at all costs, and grief profiteers will be held accountable,” U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said after Callella’s arrest.
Guthrie, 84, has been missing from her Arizona home since February in what investigators believe was an abduction. Authorities have searched for nearly six months but have not publicly identified any suspects or persons of interest, and no arrests have been made in her disappearance.
Callella’s messages are separate from other ransom notes that surfaced during the investigation.
Retired FBI agent Jason Pack said investigators cannot definitively dismiss any ransom communication until they determine who sent it and what happened to Guthrie.
“You don’t know what happened to Miss Nancy. Law enforcement is still looking for Miss Nancy,” Pack told “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “Until they have answers to that question, I don’t see how you can definitively say a note is or is not legitimate until you know exactly what happened. You don’t know who sent it yet.”
Pack’s comments come after the FBI’s Phoenix Field Office issued a statement saying some ransom demands “may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such,” while others have been deemed illegitimate “extortion attempts.”
The statement follows comments an FBI agent made to the news outlet Reuters saying the three Nancy Guthrie kidnapping notes recently highlighted in the media are fake.
The agent said the three debunked messages included two ransom notes sent to media outlets in early February, just days after Guthrie was reported missing. Then, a third note was sent out last week.
NewsNation has not confirmed Reuters’ report.
NewsNation’s Taylor Delandro contributed to this report.