Las Vegas hotel event planner arrested on child porn charges
A Las Vegas convention planner was arrested this month after he was accused of sharing child pornography.
Michael Alan Testagrossa, 53, was arrested April 9 and booked on two counts of possessing visual pornography of a person under 16 and one count of preparing, advertising or distributing material depicting pornography involving minor, according to court records.
The Metropolitan Police Department received an alert from Yahoo email services on Aug. 19 warning that a user was attempting to upload two images and two videos of child pornography, according to an arrest report from Metro released Thursday.
After police obtained an online search warrant, officers reported they found additional images and videos of child pornography had been sent and received from Testagrossa’s email. Police said his signature included CMP, CPCE and CHE, which are hospitality, convention and catering certifications.
Testagrossa is listed as an instructor at the International School of Hospitality, 3614 E. Sunset Road, and in his biography Testagrossa said he has been employed as the catering and convention services manager at Caesars Palace since 2014.
The hotel and Caesars Entertainment Corp. could not be reached for comment.
Testagrossa said in his biography that he previously worked for several other hotels across the Las Vegas Valley and served as the president of the board of directors for the Las Vegas chapter of the National Association of Catering and Events.
“Testagrossa admitted being in certain Kik groups that shared materials of kids being raped,” police wrote in the report afte their interview with him. “Testagrossa denied seeking out child pornography.”
Officers found three images on his phone and 40 images on his computer that investigators believed were depictions of child porn.
Testagrossa posted bail April 10 and was released. He is scheduled to appear in court again May 10.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
