State police investigation found possible misconduct by former Rochester police captain
DA opted not to prosecute but allegations may arise in civil Greece case
A New York State Police investigation that was closed in late 2024 found evidence of misconduct by a former Rochester police captain. The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office opted not to prosecute.
However, the investigation, which has not previously been made public, could wind its way into an ongoing civil lawsuit involving the Town of Greece.
That particular lawsuit from former Greece Police Sgt. Jared Rene is one of several that the new town administration found itself entangled in upon assuming office in January. Records show recent efforts to settle some of the lawsuits, but it’s unclear whether there has been any headway.
It’s also unclear why the DA’s office made the choice it did with the state police investigation, but records show there could have been statute-of-limitations issues and questions within the office about the strength of evidence. DA Office officials declined to comment.
Rene alleges in the lawsuit that he was targeted as a whistleblower in the aftermath of the 2021 drunken driving crash of then-Greece Police Chief Andrew Forsythe.
There are other lawsuits from former Greece police officers who make similar allegations about their treatment after Forsythe’s crash and his subsequent guilty plea to driving while impaired.
To be clear, the New York State Police investigation, which started in 2022, has no connection with the Rene lawsuit. But the state police investigation began when former Rochester Police Capt. Naser Zenelovic, now the deputy chief in Greece, was accused of harassing and stalking a former Rochester police investigator, Aaron Wilcox, and Wilcox’s then-girlfriend. (I have obtained a copy of the investigation. Wilcox made the allegations, the report shows, but not the former girlfriend, who declined to pursue charges.)
In a February deposition with the Rene lawsuit, Zenelovic was asked whether he had been the target of “a stalking investigation” before he left the Rochester police. Zenelovic answered “no.”
Court records show that lawyers for Rene wanted to use Zenelovic’s answers to challenge his credibility. U.S. Magistrate Judge Colleen Holland blocked those efforts.
However, Holland may have ruled without being aware of the New York State Police (NYSP) investigation.
Based on my review, the state police investigation was not mentioned in the deposition or court papers. The entire deposition is not available in the court filings, but Holland makes no mention of the state police investigation in her ruling. (Deposition excerpts are often introduced with arguments in civil cases, without entire depositions entered as evidence.)
Court records show that attorney Maureen Bass, who represents Rene and Wilcox, wanted to use answers from Zenelovic’s deposition as proof of untruthfulness. At another point in the February 2026 deposition, Zenelovic is asked whether he had “ever been accused of misconduct.” He also answered “No.”
The state police investigation also included allegations of official misconduct.
Bass declined to answer questions about the lawsuit. Court records show that she did subpoena state police for Zenelovic-related records. She declined to discuss whether the subpoena had provided information.
The NYSP investigation was closed in late 2024 with the DA’s Office determination not to prosecute.
According to the NYSP report from State Police Investigator Andrew Jasie, prosecutors within the DA’s Office indicated months before the investigation was closed that it could either present the allegations to a grand jury “for possible indictment, or at the least, a grand jury report to be released to the public.”
As noted earlier, the DA’s Office this week declined to comment. Brian Green was not then DA.
Last year Zenelovic answered some questions from me about the investigation. (I will explain later about the many months spent piecing this story together.)
“I want to clarify that I was never contacted by the New York State Police regarding any allegations made by Mr. Wilcox, nor was I interviewed as part of any investigation,” Zenelovic said in an email. “I am also unaware of any determinations made by the District Attorney’s Office related to this matter.
“I retired from the Rochester Police Department nearly four years ago and have served with the Greece Police Department since that time. I have no direct knowledge of the claims Mr. Wilcox is now raising.
“I am confident that any objective review of the facts will reflect the professionalism of those involved and the soundness of the decisions made.”
These comments came in 2025, so they should not imply that Zenelovic has not since learned more about the investigation. The NYSP report also shows no reference to an interview with Zenelovic. Attempts to reach him this week were unsuccessful.
Zenelovic became Greece deputy chief in early 2022, weeks before the start of the investigation. He and Chief Mike Wood had previously worked together at the Rochester police.
DA’s Office and grand jury
In New York grand juries can issue public reports with investigations of official misconduct and/or corruption. Those reports can determine that there was no misconduct, recommend discipline, and propose legislative measures in response.
The DA’s office, however, decided not to pursue criminal charges or a grand jury investigation. Jasie wrote that he had no choice but to close the investigation; the Attorney General’s Office had decided not to investigate.
Jasie wrote that after some inquiries over the final months of 2024, there was no further “guidance” from the DA’s Office regarding possible grand jury action “to include a publicized report as suggested, sanctions against those law enforcement officials who committed offenses ranging from Official Misconduct and Stalking to arguably Perjury and Making a Punishable False Written Statement.”
The other possible criminal charges cited by Jasie arose during his investigation, which also raised questions about the Rochester police internal investigation into complaints from Wilcox about Zenelovic and others on the city force.
Jasie also wrote: “There is no clear federal nexus to any crimes or allegations in this report” so there was no need to consult with federal prosecutors. Also, Jasie noted the charges would have been misdemeanors with statutes of limitations that expired in late 2023 or earlier in 2024, though this would not have precluded a public report by a grand jury.
The New York State Police has previously declined to comment on Jasie’s investigation.
Start of the investigation
The state police investigation had an unusual start, and the investigative report shows that it reached well beyond the initial allegations. Internal issues within the Rochester police - some from a lawsuit that I actually wrote about three years ago - sparked the investigation.
(Here is that story about the lawsuit: Ex-Rochester police investigator claims retaliation, harassment and stalking by colleagues )
Wilcox is the plaintiff in that state lawsuit, and it was he who sought the investigation that led to the state police probe. Wilcox alleges in the lawsuit that he decided to return to the Rochester police after retirement and was wrongly denied reinstatement because he’d been a whistleblower.
Wilcox declined to comment for this story.
Records show that a woman he was dating had, according to the NYSP report, a previous relationship with Zenelovic. Wilcox alleged that the woman was at his house in September 2021 when a vehicle he believed was driven by Zenelovic slowly passed by Wilcox’s home. This corresponded with a text from Zenelovic to the woman, which could indicate he knew she and Wilcox were together, according to the report.
The text allegedly said something to the effect of “Now I know the truth.”
Wilcox has alleged that Zenelovic improperly sought out his address. Rochester police, according to the NYSP report, told Wilcox it did not find evidence that a police vehicle had gone near Wilcox’s home.
The NYSP report says that a police lieutenant who confronted Zenelovic about the stalking allegation “told Wilcox that Zenelovic admitted to being at Wilcox’s house conducting surveillance because he was jealous.”
The civil case
The NYSP report lays out a detailed investigation that occasionally detours into other issues. It also describes an environment of backbiting within some ranks of the Rochester police.
But those tangential issues are of little relevance to Rene’s civil suit. More important at present is whether the questions about Zenelovic’s truthfulness will become part of the Rene civil case, and, if so, whether that impacts the town’s response.
The Jared Rene lawsuit has no connection with Wilcox or Wilcox’s allegations against Zenelovic. Still, questions about Zenelovic’s honesty could be used as ammo by Rene and his attorneys.
Rene has alleged that Zenelovic made comments to him indicating that Rene was a target of town hall retaliation in the aftermath of the Forsythe crash. Rene was the media point person for reporters at the time of the crash and claims he was given incorrect information to report. He was assigned to a different job afterward.
Spearheading the retaliation, Rene alleged, was former Greece Deputy Supervisor Michelle Marini, who last year pleaded guilty to two felonies and was sentenced to a year of conditional discharge, restitution, and community service.
(My D&C story from last year: Former Greece official admits to grand larceny crimes )
In her recent ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Holland determined, as the Town of Greece lawyers contended, that Bass was trying to litigate the unconnected Wilcox lawsuit in the midst of the Rene lawsuit.
Town attorneys argued in court papers that Bass was asking questions about alleged misconduct so that the “information will be used to try and harass, oppress, and annoy DC (Deputy Chief) Zenelovic.”
In her court papers, Bass wrote that “inquiry into the Witness’s (Zenelovic’s) prior conduct is plainly proper because it bears directly on witness credibility and motive, which is always relevant in deposition practice.
“The mere fact that certain information may overlap with a several years old case does not render it improper or outside the scope of discovery.”
Holland determined that Bass was improperly attempting to pursue allegations tied to the Wilcox lawsuit in a separate case, namely the Rene lawsuit.
Records show that City of Rochester attorneys expressed concern that they weren’t notified that Bass intended to raise issues about the Wilcox lawsuit in the Zenelovic deposition.
Holland did allow the deposition of Zenelovic to continue at a later date. I’m unaware of a specific date and, as I’ve written here, cannot answer definitively whether the NYSP investigation will be an issue.
I’ll continue to follow.
(A note: I have been pursuing this story since well before I retired from the Democrat and Chronicle last summer. I was at a point recently when I thought I was ready to report on the state police investigation using anonymous sources, but that is not my preference. Then, on one of my regular court docket searches, I stumbled upon what appeared to be references in the Jared Rene civil case. As noted above, I have now obtained the NYSP investigation, which was previously denied to me through public access requests and was not provided by the state police. Also, I intend to later today explain some of the reporting back story. I think that will provide more insight into this somewhat twisted affair. I’ll send out a separate post later today.)
One of the interesting things about your Substack, Gary, is that your new writing style is much better at communicating than the formula-driven style of daily newspapers.