MPD Chief Files Lawsuit Against City

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite Police Chief has filed a lawsuit against the City of Mesquite. The suit was filed with the United States District Court of Nevada on Oct. 21 by Chief MaQuade Chesley.

The formal complaint was filed against the City as well as two individuals: former City Manager Aaron Baker and Barbara Ellestad, owner/editor of the Mesquite Citizen Journal, an online news site no longer in operation.

The complaint lists allegations of discrimination based on religion and sex, retaliation due to religion and sex, deprivation of Constitutional rights, defamation, and intentional/negligent infliction of emotional distress.

According to a statement released last week by Chesley’s attorney Philip Trenchak, Chesley “is a victim of a malicious smear campaign involving the deliberate dissemination of malicious lies aimed at defaming (his) reputation, destroying his family, ruining (his) career and discrediting the Mesquite Police Department.”

The lawsuit claims that, in the time period after Feb. 2019, when Chesley was promoted to the position of Chief of Police, the Mesquite City Attorney at that time began a “systematic and continuous onslaught of personal attacks” against Chesley.

This included publishing false information and spreading rumors about Chesley to his co-workers, Mesquite citizens and to members of the church where both of the men attended, according to complaint.
The City Attorney during that time, Bob Sweetin, was not named in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, the City Attorney’s rumors and false statements had alleged that Chesley had been involved in a number of sexual offenses. These included having an affair with an underage female, impregnating a local adult female, sending and receiving nude photos to an underage female and performing sex acts in a stock room with an underage female.

The complaint claims that the City Attorney also excluded Chesley from particular police union negotiations to which MPD administration had always been invited in the past.

According to the lawsuit, this campaign of rumors sullied the opinion of then-City Manager Aaron Baker against Chesley. Baker began to exclude Chesley from city meetings which had previously included the Chief of Police, the complaint said.

The lawsuit chronicled multiple instances where Chesley had allegedly approached Baker to report the “ongoing disinformation campaign that was being waged against him.” But according to the complaint, each time these things were reported Baker “refused to lend any assistance.”

All of this had a deep impact on Chesley’s personal life as well, the lawsuit claims. Chesley’s wife and three daughters were “forced to leave the town of Mesquite” because of the “sexually explicit nature of the lies that the City Attorney spread to fellow church members and citizens,” the complaint stated.

The suit said that Chesley filed a harassment complaint against Baker “for his lack of action to dissuade the deleterious and horrific actions of the City Attorney” towards him.

In addition, in Sept. 2020, two MPD officers also made claims of harassment against the City Attorney, according to the complaint.

These “were found to be legitimate…and disciplinary action was recommended,” though there was no evidence that any disciplinary action was taken at that time, the complaint stated.

“In November of 2020, an investigation was begun, and in December of 2020, the City Attorney was removed from his position due to the findings of the investigations,” the complaint claimed.

In a meeting on Dec. 8, the City Council voted 4-1 to terminate its contract with Sweetin.
According to the complaint, a charge was filed on Chesley’s behalf in March 2021 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A settlement demand was also sent at around that same time.

The complaint filed by Chesley last week also chronicled events surrounding an article published by Ellestad in the Mesquite Citizen Journal (MCJ) on April 27, 2021.

The article reported that multiple unnamed sources had confirmed they had been interviewed by investigators from the Nevada State Attorney General’s office about alleged inappropriate misconduct by Chesley.

The allegations reportedly pertained to possible inappropriate and questionable texts, conversations and photos exchanged by Chesley with teenage girls in the community between 2015 and late 2019, according to the MCJ article.
None of the alleged sources or accusers were named in the article.

The complaint also stated that Chesley had received an email from Baker earlier in the day of April 27, stating that he had received a call from Ellestad the day before informing him that an article was about to be published.

Baker’s email also claimed that, several weeks before, a person had come forward alleging “first-hand knowledge” of the incidents involving Chesley. This person had reportedly been referred by Baker over to the State Attorney General’s office to make a statement. This was due to “the city not being able to invest anything like this internally,” Baker’s email stated.

Chesley’s complaint filed last week also included his full response to Baker’s email at that time. The response alleges that Baker failed to exercise due diligence in dealing with a complaint about an employee.
“Again you have failed me as your employee and further perpetrated harm against me,” Chesley said in his response. “This is clear retaliation of which you are directly involved. Thus furthering my necessity to move forward with a lawsuit.”

Baker made a similar account that evening to the full City Council, telling of a citizen with “first-hand knowledge” of Chesley’s alleged inappropriate behavior being referred to the Attorney General’s office. This account was included in its entirety in Chesley’s complaint.

But the complaint also includes a transcript of the response back from Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, which was addressed to Baker as the one who had filed the complaint with his office.

The response states that Baker’s complaint had been reviewed by the AG investigative unit and no evidence had been found of any criminal violation.
“We have closed our investigation concerning your matter, and no criminal prosecution will be pursued,” Ford’s response adds.

Chesley’s complaint alleges that Baker was not being entirely truthful in his report to City Council “…because the City Manager was directly addressed as the complainant in this matter by the Attorney General.”
Baker resigned as City Manager on May 12.

Ellestad shuttered the MCJ on the following day citing a firestorm of hate-filled comments regarding the April 27 story as the reason.

In a May 28 story published by the Las Vegas Review Journal, Ellestad expressed fear of retaliation from the police in her hometown of Mesquite where she had resided for 20 years.

In an interview with The Progress last week, Chesley’s attorney, Phillip Trenchak emphasized that the lawsuit was the last thing that Chesley wanted to do. “MaQuade didn’t want to sue his employer,” Trenchak said. “He loves his job and he loves working in Mesquite.”

“There were some negotiations, but they really didn’t go anywhere,” Trenchak added. “In the end, this was really what we had to do. The onslaught of attacks just kept going on, even after we filed the EEOC charge (in March). So this was what we had to do to protect MaQuade and his family.”

Trenchak expressed the vital importance at this point that the truth come out in this matter. “The truth will come out in depositions and eventually if we have to go to court,” he said. “Truth is really the ultimate deciding factor in a defamation suit and the facts will show that MaQuade is an ethical family man with nothing to hide.”

In a separate interview, Chesley insisted that the ongoing lawsuit would not affect his devotion to duty or his job performance as the Chief of Police.
“Throughout (the whole process) my dedication to the city and the police department has never wavered,” Chesley said. “My duty of Chief of Police will always be paramount. Rest assured, the focus to keep Mesquite and its citizens safe has not, and will never, waver. MPD will continue to be successful despite whatever outside influences come at us. There will be no change. It will be business as usual.”