Ex-Bluffton cop pleads prostitution stabbing

DECATUR, Indiana (WANE) – A former Bluffton police officer involved in a prostitution stabbing in Decatur last year pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of making an unlawful proposal earlier this month.

James A. Mettler, who was 72 when Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy arrested him in November, was also sentenced to six months in prison. He received a credit of 128 days for time served while his case progressed through the legal system.

According to the sheriff’s department, the investigation used a confidential informant to set up a meeting with Mettler at a hotel. Mettler reportedly spoke to the informant about exchanging money for sex.

By that time, Mettler had been released from Grant County on bail for a similar offense.

In that case, he was charged with a Level 4 felony of vicarious sexual conduct, in which the defendant attempts to get a child under the age of 16 to engage in deviant behavior, and two counts of unlawful suggestion.

According to court documents, he faces a trial in June.

Mettler served with the Bluffton Police Department from 1984 to 2013. During his tenure with the department, he was never charged with a crime.