by Carolyne Volpe Curley / Carolyne@WestEssexNOW.com Published 3:52pm ![]() CALDWELL, NJ - On Friday, the Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Maplewood Police Chief Robert J. Cimino announced that additional charges were levied against Nicole Dufault, 35, of Caldwell. Dufault was arrested Tuesday night at her home and charged with sexually assaulting three students at Columbia High School in Maplewood, where she has been working for nine years as a language arts teacher. After the charges authorized today, the number of sexual assault victims has been raised to five. Prosecutors detailed that Dufault is accused of engaging in various sexual encounters with the students on school property and in her car on multiple occasions. Dufault is accused of multiple counts of first degree aggravated sexual assault and multiple counts of second degree endangering the welfare of a child. All five of the victims are 15-year-old boys who were students at Columbia High School. All of the incidents occurred during the regular school year and also during summer school in 2013 and 2014. Dufault appeared in court today and entered a not guilty plea to the charges involving the original three teen boys. She continues to be held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark on $500,000 bail. She has been ordered to have no contact with any of the victims and her two minor children have been removed from her custody. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit at 973-753-1130. The high school acting superintendent, James G. Memoli, and the school's principal, Elizabeth Aaron, sent out a letter on Thursday to all parents regarding the incidents: To the SOMSD Community, Further Reading:
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