Pittsburgh-area official pleads to disturbing peace in Detroit scuffle with cops

The Pittsburgh-area official who was charged in connection with a confrontation with police at a downtown Detroit hotel has pleaded no contest to a lesser charge, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner pleaded Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace in connection with the March 2019 incident at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel.

The plea was made during a pretrial conference before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Regina Thomas for a felony count of resisting and obstructing the police.

Wagner pleaded no contest to one count of disturbing the peace, which is a 90-day misdemeanor. She was sentenced to six months non-reporting probation and ordered  to pay $600 in court costs and $53 to the Crime Victims Fund.  As part of her plea, the court can dismiss the case when Wagner completes her probation.

Wagner was accused of interfering with Detroit police officers March 6 as officers prepared to remove her husband, Khari Mosley, from the hotel where the couple was staying while in town for a concert.

Wagner's defense attorneys maintained she did nothing wrong, and that she was only standing up for herself and her husband against overly aggressive cops.

The incident allegedly was touched off when workers at the Westin denied Mosley a key to the room where Wagner was sleeping because his name was not on the room's registration. 

Wagner originally was charged with two counts of resisting and obstructing the police, a felony that carries a maximum of two years in prison, and one count of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail.

Wagner went on trial Nov. 12 before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Dalton Roberson, and she was found not guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct. A mistrial was declared on the count of resisting and obstructing the police.

Mosley was charged with disorderly conduct and another misdemeanor, disturbing the peace, in connection with the hotel incident. He was acquitted by a jury in July.

bwilliams@detroitnews.com

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