Retired Mesa police officer Neese cleared of 2 sex harassment allegations
Two allegations of sexual harassment against retired Mesa police Officer Jeffrey Neese were deemed to be unsustained, according to recently released documents.
The reports, released to The Arizona Republic Thursday, recount how two women accused Neese of sexually harassing them through Facebook Messenger in 2019.
The women, who both worked for the hospital were Neese performed off-duty work, reported his behavior to the city in July after multiple female Mesa officers publicly detailed Neese’s past sexual harassment.
The hospital workers’ complaints were ultimately ruled unsustained due to a lack of corroborating evidence or witnesses, with one investigator calling them a “he said, she said” incident.
Since the allegations were not confirmed, Neese would have been able to return to duty if he had not retired.
Mesa police Assistant Chief Ed Wessing was unable to comment on the matter due to possible litigation.
David Lunn, the attorney for the female officers who made allegations against Neese, said it was disappointing that the claims weren’t validated by the city given Neese’s history.
“It’s hard to imagine why — if you know you have a habitual sex offender out there — why more credence wouldn’t be given to the victims,” Luna said. “That’s disappointing, to say the
least, considering there’s actual factual knowledge of multiple acts of sexual harassment.”
What does investigation show?
Both women filed complaints with the department after the first group of women spoke publicly in July.
One woman said she received inappropriate messages from Neese on Facebook Messenger in August 2017, including asking her for naked pictures of herself for him to use for masturbation. The woman declined and Neese then allegedly sent her pictures of his penis that disappeared after 10 seconds.
The investigative memo said the woman did not have screenshots of the conversation, but she recounted the details to a friend after it occurred.
The second woman also said Neese sent her inappropriate messages via Facebook Messenger in June 2018, according to the investigative memo. She told investigators she was friends with Neese and would sometimes communicate with him via the chat app. On one occasion, he sent her messages stating he “loved the hot pictures” she posted and “used” them in his spare time. The messages disappeared 30 seconds after they were sent. The woman did not reply to the messages.
She was also unable to provide screenshots of the conversation to investigators and later “refused” to respond to requests for another interview, records show.
Neese was not on-duty at the time of either incident and Investigative documents said he denied the allegations.
Both complaints were ultimately ruled “unsustained” in January due to a lack of corroborating evidence.
“In its simplest form, this appears to be a ‘he said, she said,’” an investigator wrote in an interoffice memo detailing the decision. “The alleged possible misconduct is uncorroborated by evidence or witness testimony.”
Other women still plan to file suit
The female officers announced their intention to file a $1 million lawsuit against the city and the department in
July 2019, alleging they failed to adequately discipline Neese for sending graphic, sexual text messages and explicit sketches.
Lunn told The Arizona Republic in January that a claim has been filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the women were awaiting a “right to sue” letter giving them the go-ahead to file the case with the court.
A spokesman for the women on Thursday said they’re still planning to move forward with the lawsuit.
Neese joined Mesa police in 1999, according to Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board records. He rose to the role of sergeant over the SWAT team and served as an instructor at the police academy.
According to the notice of claim, the harassment is alleged to have first occurred in 2014 and continued until the women reported his behavior in August 2018.
In text messages, Neese graphically described masturbating to memories of interactions with the women and fantasies involving them, the notice of claim states.
Human Resources documents recount the city’s investigation into the complaints. Neese claimed he had no knowledge of the text messages, or said that the women made them up.
The city’s Human Resources Department announced those allegations were confirmed in October 2018.
Initially, Neese was going to be moved to a sergeant position in the patrol department in addition to receiving a 50-hour unpaid suspension as discipline. He was pulled from SWAT, but the suspension was postponed after another accuser came forward.
That woman’s allegations were also confirmed by Human Resources. However, the city ultimately decided Neese would keep his job but be demoted to an officer’s rank within the patrol division.
After the second batch of allegations emerged, Neese was pulled from duty and “reassigned to his home” with pay while the matter was investigated. He retired in December before the investigations into the allegations from the hospital workers were completed.