Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3^rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

*News Release* Date: May 11, 2010

Ex-school teacher charged with two counts of child endangerment

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and Plainsboro Police Chief Richard Furda today announced the arrest of a Boy Scout troop administrator and retired Edison school teacher on charges of viewing and possessing child pornography.

Donald G. Mettler, (DOB) 9/20/37) of 709 Hunters Glen Drive, Plainsboro, was arrested on May 7, 2010, and was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

He was released on May 9, 2010, from the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick after posting $50,000 bail set by Edward Herman, a municipal court judge in Plainsboro.

An investigation by Detective Eric Potts of the Plainsboro Police Department and Karleen A. Duca of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office began when Plainsboro police received a call on May 7, 2010, reporting that someone was viewing child pornography on a computer at the Plainsboro Township Public Library.

Mettler was at the library when police arrived, and was charged following the investigation.

He currently serves as a committee chairman involved in the administration of the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 2 in West Orange.

He was as employed by the Edison Board of Education from September 1, 1960, until January 31, 1992. He worked as a Spanish teacher and cross-county coach at Edison High School and later worked at the Herbert Hoover Middle School.

Anyone with information on this or similar incidents is asked to call Detective Potts of the Plainsboro Police Department at (609) 799-2333, or Investigator Duca at the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3600.

As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Mettler are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Donald G. Mettler