JERSEY CITY — A retired cop cleared of wrongdoing by a Hudson County Superior Court judge in October is suing Jersey City, saying like his former co-defendants that the city should have paid for his defense.

Joe Ascolese was accused with three others of conspiring to falsify timesheets, charges that were dismissed entirely by Judge Mirtha Ospina on Oct. 23 after county prosecutors conceded they could not prove their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Two of his co-defendants – Lt. Kelly Chesler and Officer Michael O'Neill – have filed similar lawsuits seeking back pay and reimbursement of legal fees (they were suspended without pay for more than two years as they awaited trial). Ascolese, who retired as a captain in February 2015, more than a year before his June 2016 indictment, is only seeking legal fees.

Ascolese filed his lawsuit in Hudson County Superior Court on Friday. It names Jersey City, Mayor Steve Fulop, the City Council, personnel director Mark Bunbury (misidentified as the business administrator in the lawsuit) and Police Chief Michael Kelly as defendants.

In seeking legal fees reimbursement, Ascolese, Chesler and O'Neill have cited New Jersey law that requires municipalities to provide officers with a defense if they are defendants in any action related to their duties. The city told them in 2016 they were not entitled to a city-paid defense because the city believed the allegations did not stem from a "lawful exercise of police powers."

Ospina dismissed the charges against O'Neill about five weeks into the trial, which started in early September. She dismissed the claims against Ascolese and Chesler about two weeks later. O'Neill and Chesler have since rejoined the police force.

"The criminal prosecution was an egregious mistake on behalf of the Jersey City Police Department and I think the city of Jersey City owes it to the taxpayers not to compound that mistake," said Ascolese's attorney, Robert Lytle. "They should do the right thing and resolve the civil litigations quickly."

A fourth person charged in the case, Michael Maietti, agreed to testify against the others at trial. He was accepted into a pretrial program intended for first offenders. Prosecutors in the case never called him to the witness stand.

Ascolese had his roughly $107,000 pension taken away in June 2017. A state pension board is expected on Dec. 10 to hear his request to reinstate it.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.