Carbon County District Attorney Jean A. Engler has announced she will be running for election to her first full term. She has been the district attorney of Carbon County since August 2014, when she succeeded Gary F. Dobias upon his retirement.

She first joined the office in 1989, as an assistant D.A. for then District Attorney Richard W. Webb.In her 26-year tenure, she has prosecuted thousands of cases including first-degree murder trials.Some of her notable convictions include those of four defendants who murdered a rival drug dealer, a serial rapist who targeted elderly women in their homes, multiple child predators, several homicide cases with child victims, several serial arson cases, and numerous drug dealing cases involving corrupt organizations. She has handled cases from arrest through appeals to the United States Supreme Court.If she is elected, Engler vows to continue the work she has started, including a focus on prosecutions of drug dealers to combat the problem of drugs in the county. She will continue to expand filings of forfeitures of money from drug transactions to be used for drug education, training and equipment in order to ease the burden on taxpayers.Engler was responsible for implementation of the Carbon County Drug Tipline, which has resulted in dozens of referrals to law enforcement agencies.Engler is the coordinator of the Carbon County Drug Task Force, the vice president of the Criminal Justice Advisory Board of Carbon County and a member of the Carbon County Prison Board. She is past chancellor of the Carbon County Bar Association and was an officer of the association for over 25 years.In the community, she has been a mock trial coach for Marian High School, her alma mater, since 1992. She is a past president, member and Paul Harris Fellow of the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club.Engler is the daughter of the late attorney W. Joseph Engler and Mary R. Engler. She is a graduate of Villanova University and Villanova School of Law and is a lifelong resident of Jim Thorpe.