Las Vegas Man Arrested For Harassing And Threatening Several Subjects, Including Law Enforcement Officer
WARSAW — A Las Vegas man was arrested after harassing and threatening a man and a law enforcement officer locally.
Michael Angelo Messina, 24, Las Vegas, Nev., is being charged with stalking, a level 5 felony; intimidation, a class A misdemeanor; harassment, a class B misdemeanor; intimidation to a law enforcement officer and intimidation, both level 6 felonies.
On May 30, 2018, an officer with the Warsaw Police Department spoke with a male subject. The male advised he has a weightlifting website on Instagram. The male said in March or April, a subject, identified as Messina, contacted him and offered to send free shirts for the weightlifting site.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the male provided Messina his address for the shirts to be mailed to. Shortly after doing so, the male began receiving messages from Messina.
On May 7, May 8, May 25 and July 12, Messina contacted child protective services and said he had received information that the male was asking for nude photographs and talking sexually to juvenile females. Messina said the male was having unprotected sex with underage girls and touching them inappropriately. In one of the calls, Messina said he was misinformed and that he didn’t want to ruin the male’s reputation.
The male further advised that he received constant harassment and threats from Messina. The male said Messina threatened to hurt his friends and his father if he didn’t do as he requested. Messina threatened to have the male thrown in jail, calling him a pedophile and threatening to expose him if he did not stay in contact with him.
The officer spoke with one of the man’s friends, who verified that Messina had made threats to him because he was friends with the male. On June 5, the male’s friend received threatening messages from Messina about his sister and threatened to beat him up. Messina then talked about the male going into bodybuilding gay porn and having sex with minors.
The officer obtained messages dated Sept. 18 from Messina to a second subject, stating that he is going to get jumped and that he needed to watch his back.
On Oct. 23, the male received a package from Messina at his father’s residence. The father immediately took that package to the Warsaw Police Department. Officers opened the package, which contained a cellular phone. The father said that when the package arrived, he immediately received messages from Messina, stating he was going to report the phone as stolen, have him charged and cause him legal problems. Messina advised he had contacted the father’s employer, showing he knew the male’s father was a law enforcement officer.
The officer obtained Messina’s identifying information and verified his residence and that he was a real person sending the information over the Internet.
Messina was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Jan. 11, 2019, with a $50,250 surety and cash bond.