NEW BRUNSWICK: Troubled cop charged again

By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
   An Edison police officer, charged with fire bombing a superior’s house in Monroe last year, has been arrested again, according to officials.
   Michael A. Dotro, 36, of Manalapan, who is already facing a series of charges for allegedly trying to burn the Monroe Township home of one of his captains in Edison Police Department, was charged this week with two other Edison officers for allegedly planning to retaliate against a North Brunswick police officer that arrested an associate of his for drunk driving, according to a press release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
   Fellow officers Victor E. Aravena, 42, and William H. Gesell, 45, both of Edison, were charged with a fourth degree count of conspiring to retaliate against the North Brunswick officer for performing an official act, according to the release.
   According to the release, the charges were filed after Investigator Donald Heck of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that the three defendants conspired between Feb. 1 and April 11, 2012 to retaliate against the North Brunswick officer after he arrested an associate of Mr. Dotro on a charge of driving while intoxicated.
   Mr. Dotro subsequently conspired with Aravena and Gesell to find ways to retaliate against the North Brunswick officer. No actual retaliation was ever undertaken, however, police said.
   All three officers were released on their own recognizance, the release said.
   Last year, Mr. Dotro was arrested at his Monmouth County home in the afternoon of May 23 and charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated arson.
   Mr. Dotro, a nine-year veteran of the Edison Police Department, was charged following an “intensive” investigation into the early morning fire at the Monroe Township home of Edison Police Capt. Mark Anderko May 20, police said.
   According to police, Mr. Dotro intentionally set fire to the outside of the residence as the family, consisting of Capt. Anderko, his wife, two children and 92-year-old mother slept.
   Capt. Anderko and his family were able to escape the 4 a.m. blaze which “extensively” damaged the two-story, colonial home, according to police.
   Police, EMT workers and firefighters from Monroe Township Fire Stations 23-A, 23-B, 51 and 57 arrived. The fire was extinguished within 10 to 15 minutes, according to police.Mr. Dotro pled not guilty to those charges on May 24. The case is still pending.