Update!

Alleged Aly & AJ Stalker Arraigned

Ohio man busted for targeting teen pop stars with menacing emails, phone calls, blog posts

By Josh Grossberg Jun 27, 2008 8:17 PMTags
Alyson Michalka, Amanda Michalka, AJ, AlyAP Photo / LMartinez

Aly & AJ have dodged a potential uh-oh.

Authorities are accusing an Ohio man of stalking the tween-fave pop queens, otherwise known as Alyson Michalka, 19, and Amanda Michalka, 17.

Rex Mettler appeared in Fairfield County Municipal Court today and pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of menacing by stalking, per the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Bond was set at $250,000.

Mettler was ordered to submit to a mental-health assessment and is due back in court July 3 for a preliminary hearing.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was tipped off about threats purportedly directed at the siblings and in turn contacted authorities in Lancaster, Ohio, where local police took the 42-year-old Mettler into custody yesterday at his job at a water-bottling company.

According to Sgt. Mike Peters, investigators obtained further evidence after executing a search warrant on Mettler's residence.

Police would not comment on whether the threats specifically dealt with the sisters' concert Friday night in Cincinnati, 100 miles south of Lancaster. Promoters said the show will go on as scheduled.

But the alleged harassment dates back to December, when Mettler began sending emails, handwritten notes and making blog posts targeting the teen singers. His identity was uncovered after Los Angeles sheriff's deputies traced emails to his computer through his IP address.

Alyson (aka Aly) played the bubbly Keely Teslow on the Disney Channel's time-traveling comedy Phil of the Future from 2004 to 2006.

Amanda (AJ) has appeared on General Hospital and HBO's Six Feet Under and has a bit role in Peter Jackson's highly anticipated film The Lovely Bones.

As Aly & AJ, the sisters toured with Miley Cyrus earlier this year and have released three albums, the first of which, Into the Rush, went platinum.

(Originally published June 27, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. PT.)