Ex-hoosick Falls police chief pleads guilty after retiring
Three days after he retired as village police chief, Robert Ashe pleaded guilty Monday in Village Court to a misdemeanor of official misconduct — ending a nearly six-month investigation that dealt with how he handled confiscated fireworks and police employment records.
In return for a guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge, which resolved a case that also included felony counts of first-degree filing a false instrument related to business records and grand larceny, Ashe received an unconditional discharge and was ordered by Village Justice Thomas Restino to pay a $205 court surcharge.
“By pleading guilty he has forfeited any
public office. I believe this is a fair disposition for this case,” Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka said after the hearing.
Czajka was named as the special prosecutor for the case by Rensselaer County Court Judge Jennifer Sober. Ashe is the fourth police chief that Czajka has successfully prosecuted. The others include police chiefs in the city of Hudson, the village of Philmont and the village of Chatham.
Ashe officially left the force Friday. The former police chief had been on a paid leave of absence since December as the State Police investigated allegations of misconduct. Ashe earned $53,684 as chief in 2021, according to Seethroughny.net, a database of government salaries operated by the Empire Center for Public Policy.
The investigation was looking into whether Ashe had taken confiscated fireworks for personal use and ensuring a police officer was reported as working when he was supposedly injured off the job, sources familiar with the investigators’ work had confirmed.
Ashe decided to retire after 18 years as chief on Wednesday and Friday was “his last day of full employment with the Village of Hoosick Falls,” Mayor Robert Allen said in a statement.
“Our Village Police officers stepped up and served with distinction and honor over the past several months. We are deeply appreciative of their efforts and dedication. Officer-in-charge Paul Aleksonis will continue to lead the Village of Hoosick Falls Police Department while they provide their essential service to the Village of Hoosick Falls,” Allen continued in his statement. “I’m done,” Ashe told the Times Union earlier Monday afternoon about his retirement before his court appearance.
Ashe referred questions about the legal action to his defense attorney Brian Premo. Ashe left the hearing without comment Monday evening after being directed to go to the Brunswick State Police barracks to be processed.
“This case was defensible. For personal reasons he decided to retire and at that point resolve the case,” Premo said following the hearing.
The courtroom was filled with supporters of the former chief, including family members, police officers and friends.
David Sutton, a former town of Hoosick councilman and a former Hoosick Falls Central School District Board of Education member, said in court after the proceeding that Ashe was the best police officer the village ever had.
Ashe, who at one point aspired to run for Rensselaer County sheriff, also has been touched by an ongoing county ballot fraud investigation that began with issues regarding absentee ballots in the city of Rensselaer and spread to Troy and other county communities.
Premo has said that Ashe did nothing wrong with any absentee ballots, and doesn’t expect that investigation to produce results against him. There has been no resolution yet in that case.