David Ettlinger: DA says student pics were on Newton teacher’s computer

The Newton elementary school teacher accused of sexually assaulting a young girl, allegedly had pictures of children from his school on his computer.

The Middlesex district attorney’s office said yesterday that the pictures David Ettlinger, 34, of Brighton, had on his computer pictures he apparently took of students from the school where he worked. The pictures were not pornographic, authorities said.

“While certainly troubling that someone charged with such crimes would possess photos of their child, the pictures were non-pornographic and therefore non criminal,” the Middlesex district attorney’s office said in a statement.

After the discovery, which was made by police during the course of their investigation, authorities alerted the parents of the children identified in the pictures.

Ettlinger was indicted earlier this month on five counts of aggravated indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, posing a child in a state of nudity, possession of child pornography and secretly recording a partially nude person.

He pleaded not guilty to those charges and is due back in court next month.

Ettlinger resigned from his job as a teacher at the Underwood Elementary School Jan. 31, a day before a termination hearing was set to take place.