A Lambertville man who works as Princeton’s animal control officer has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old in Bucks County, officials said.
Saul Nathan Barson, 29, was arrested Monday by the Solebury, Pa. police department on charges he assaulted the child in a park there on Feb. 3.
Saul Nathan Barson
The town of Princeton – where he goes by Nate Barson – then suspended him without pay pending an investigation, Princeton Administrator Marc Dashield said.
Solebury police did not elaborate on the case in a statement, only saying they received information about a sexual assault at Pat Livezey Park on Feb. 3 and an investigation identified Barson as the perpetrator.
Police did not further identify the 13-year-old victim.
Barson’s charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors and criminal use of a communication facility, Solebury police said.
Princeton hired Barson to a fulltime post in July 2015 at an annual salary of $53,000 after separating from their longtime animal control officer Mark Johnson. (The town later settled with Johnson due to his handling of unused rabies vaccines.)
At the time, Barson also ran a business, Animal Control & Investigative Services, which provided animal control services for 18 towns in Hunterdon County.
The Town Topics newspaper in Princeton reported in 2015 that Barson, who grew up in West Windsor, was also a volunteer with local first aid squads, something he started doing in high school.
Following his arrest Monday, Barson was arraigned in a district court in Bucks County and sent to the Bucks County Jail in Doylestown in lieu of $300,000 bail.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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