ST. GEORGE — A stop for gas led to the arrest of two Las Vegas men that were located by officers inside a Mesquite casino after an alert employee at a gas station called the Mesquite Police Department Friday.
At 2:45 p.m. MDT, officers responded to a local service station in Mesquite on a report that two men were inside attempting to pass counterfeit $100 bills.
Officers arrived to find the pair had already left, and were given a description of both suspects and the vehicle they were driving by the station clerk. They immediately began circulating the area in search of the suspects, according to a statement released by Mesquite Police Chief MaQuade Chesley on Saturday.
During a canvass of a Mesquite casino parking lot, officers located a vehicle matching the description provided by the clerk. Minutes later, both men were located inside the business and were detained by police.
Through the course of the investigation officers searched the suspects’ vehicle and allegedly recovered $800 in counterfeit bills, a number of forged checks, stolen identification cards, printing equipment used to produce counterfeit checks and currency.
Officers also found more than 10 grams of methamphetamine and a loaded firearm.
Both men, Vincent Matlock and James Guerrie, both 51, and Las Vegas residents, were arrested and charged with multiple counts of possession of forged instruments, possession of financial forgery laboratory and for trafficking methamphetamine.
The pair was transported and booked into the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Charges were filed later that same day.
Mesquite Police Chief Chesley attributed the successful outcome to his officers working as a team and being proactive to prevent and deter crime, which he said is accomplished by “going above and beyond on each incident we respond to.”
Chesley was sworn in during a Mesquite City Council meeting Feb. 12 and has been with the department for more than 12 years following a short stint with the St. George Police Department.
According to the statement, additional charges for Matlock and Guerrie are pending and the investigation is ongoing.
This report is based on statements from police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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