A woman in Walpole said that she spotted Mertz on this driveway and called police. Given the scene and the weather, it was a chilling sight from both a criminal and climatic viewpoint.
However, the woman reported seeing him in a ski cap, googles and a towel. The last item raises a question over the basis for indecent exposure. It would still be enough for the police to intervene for the man’s own protection but the legal defense was lost when the woman drove back a second time and the towel was gone. She says that now Mertz was completely nude and thrusting his hips onto his mailbox as she drove by.
The mailbox is not being listed as a sexual assault victim at this time but I doubt the mail carrier is going to want to use that box for a while.
Mertz was charged with open and gross lewdness and disturbing the peace.
What is a matter of even greater concern is that Mertz was previously cited for exposing himself to boaters in nearby Natick in 2012. Yet, he remained a teacher at the high school.