EDISON — Three Edison police officers, including one who is already facing charges he firebombed his supervisor's home, have been charged with planning to retaliate against a North Brunswick police officer who arrested another man for drunken driving, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced today.

Carey said Michael Dotro, 36, of Manalapan, and Victor Aravena, 42, and William Gesell, 45, both of Edison, were charged with fourth-degree conspiring to retaliate against the officer for performing an official act.

He said Gesell also was charged with third-degree unlawfully accessing a police computer data base to gather information on the North Brunswick officer.

A fourth-degree offense carries a sentence of up to 18 months in prison, and a third-degree crime conviction can result in up to five years in prison. Both carry a presumption of probation.

The prosecutor said the charges were filed after county investigator Donald Heck determined the three conspired between February 1, 2012, and April 11, 2012, to retaliate against the officer after he arrested an associate of Dotro’s for driving while intoxicated.

Carey said no actual retaliation was ever undertaken, but Dotro, Aravena, and Gesell tried to find ways to retaliate against the officer.

The prosecutor said the identities of the North Brunswick officer and the individual charged with drunken driving are not being disclosed.

He said the investigation is continuing and asked that anyone with information call county Investigator Heck at (732) 745-8848.

Capt. Bruce Polkowitz, president of the Superior Officers Association, said he was shocked by the arrests.

“My experiences working with Lt. Gesell and Victor Aravena have been exemplary,” Polkowitz said. “They have an outstanding work ethic. They’re honorable, fair and decent police officers.”

Gesell and Aravena were released on their own recognizance following their arrests. Chief Thomas Bryan said they were immediately suspended without pay. Dotro had been suspended without pay since his arrest last year.

Dotro is facing aggravated arson and five counts of attempted murder for allegedly setting fire to the Monroe Township home of Edison police Capt. Mark Anderko, who along with his wife, his children and his 92-year-old mother, escaped the blaze unharmed.

Dotro was subsequently charged in September 2013 with 17 new counts, including four counts of official misconduct and one count of engaging in a pattern of official misconduct.

Authorities charge Dotro bought marijuana while in uniform, conspired to sell the drug, slashed a woman’s tires and illegally accessed the police department’s records database for personal use.

The prosecutor’s office also charged Dotro carried two prohibited weapons—a set of brass knuckles and a small club known as a blackjack—in his police duty bag while at work.

The September charges arose from alleged crimes that took place before his arrest for torching Anderko’s house, Carey said in September.

Law enforcement officials previously told The Star Ledger that Dotro was angry at Anderko after the captain moved him from the night shift to days and ordered him to undergo a fitness-for-duty evaluation with a psychologist. That assessment, sparked by Dotro’s 11th excessive force complaint in a decade, took place four days before the May fire. Dotro is free on $2,100,000 bail.

Aravena is a 14-year veteran who made $120,000 last year. Gesell is a 20-year veteran who made $139,000 last year.

Star-Ledger staff writer Mark Mueller contributed to this report.



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