A former Mesquite police chief engaged in a lengthy legal battle with the city has been criminally charged in Mesquite Justice Court, despite the city recently agreeing to a $1.4 million legal settlement with him, according to court records.
MaQuade Chesley was fired from the city in January 2025 amid allegations of misconduct that Chesley denied. The city informed Chesley in writing at the time that one of the allegations accused him of making an unauthorized recording in June of 2024.
According to Mesquite Justice Court records, a criminal complaint was filed against Chesley on April 20, charging him with felony monitoring or attempting to monitor a private conversation. The complaint states that sometime between May 2024 and June 2024, Chesley engaged in the monitoring of a private conversation by means of a mechanical device, electronic or other listening device.
A spokesman for the Mesquite Police Department confirmed that Mesquite police conducted the investigation into the department’s former top cop, leading to the filing of the charge. Police declined further comment.
A Las Vegas Review-Journal request for an incident report or police affidavit in support of the charge, which was filed by the Clark County district attorney’s office, was pending as of Friday. The names of the people involved in the conversation that Chesley is accused of monitoring were redacted from the criminal complaint by the Mesquite Justice Court.
Chesley’s attorney said the charge is without merit.
“The evidence will show the criminal complaint is baseless,” attorney Ronald Dreher said. “He hasn’t committed any crimes and there seems to be some sort of political motivation behind this investigation.”
City Council member Pattie Gallo said Friday that Chesley is accused of recording a conversation involving two council members and a city employee in a public area of City Hall as “they were concluding they were going to fire him.”
Gallo said she is a supporter of Chesley and thinks he did a good job as chief. She considers the criminal charge as “payback” for Chesley and predicted the criminal case will ultimately be dismissed.
The criminal charge against Chesley was filed six days after the city of Mesquite agreed to have their insurer pay $1.4 million to Chesley to settle state civil claims filed by Chesley against the city.
Court records show a federal civil lawsuit filed against the city of Mesquite by Chesley, however, is still pending.
”The civil lawsuit is moving forward with very little progress at this point and we are hoping to get to some sort of resolution,” Dreher said.
Chesley started with Mesquite police in 2007 and was repeatedly promoted, eventually rising to the position of chief. He was fired in January of 2025, according to litigation he has filed and a previous emailed statement from former Mesquite City Manager Edward “Owen” Dickie.
Chesley later filed claims in both state and federal court. He alleged the city violated what’s known as the Peace Officer Bill of Rights when it conducted an internal investigation into allegations of misconduct against him.
“In using a non-peace officer and failing to provide required notifications when completing investigations into Plaintiff’s alleged misconduct, Defendant City willfully and knowingly violated” the statute, according to the lawsuit.
During an April 14 meeting, the City Council unanimously approved the $1.4 million settlement for the claims filed in state court. Gallo said the amount was far higher than a $345,000 proposed settlement the City Council rejected previously. Gallio had supported the earlier, cheaper settlement that also asked for a letter of apology from the city.
“There were some errors made on both sides of the issue by Mr. Chesley and city officials,” Councilman Kevin Parrish said. “The $1.4 million settlement is going to be paid entirely by our insurance company which is Travelers Insurance. There is no out-of-pocket expense to the Mesquite taxpayer.”
Legal fees are also being paid by the insurance company, said Parrish, who added that he had been unaware of the criminal charge against Chesley.
“I met Mr. Chesley a couple of times before he was let go,” Parrish said. “I don’t have any ill will towards the man. There were some issues between him and our city manager we had at the time and that’s where all this started.”
Parrish, who has been on the council for roughly 18 months, said he was not on the City Council when the prior, cheaper settlement offer was in front of the council and rejected.
“That is very disappointing because it was I believe in the $300,000 range,” Parrish said. “Like $345,000. It was actually about 25 percent of what we actually settled for.”
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.
