Nicole Dufault, the Columbia High School teacher facing 40 counts of sexually assaulting six students, is likely to reject a plea deal of 15 years in prison.
Dufault appeared Friday in Superior Court in Newark for the first time since being indicted in February on charges of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to an NJ.com report. She was arrested last September and has been out on bail since October.
Under the plea deal offered in court Friday by Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Gina Iosim, Dufault would have to serve almost 13 years before being eligible for parole, face parole supervision for life and be required to register as a sex offender, the NJ.com report said. The deal would be in exchange for Dufault pleading guilty to some of the charges.
Dufault is scheduled to be arraigned on April 6.
Dufault was arrested last September and charged with engaging in sex acts with five male students, with a sixth victim identified later. The boys were all between 14 and 15 years old at the time of the incidents, which allegedly took place in 2013 and 2014. A Caldwell resident and single mother of two, Dufault worked as a language arts teacher at CHS for nine years.
Dufault’s attorney, Timothy R. Smith, told reporters outside court that she would likely reject the plea deal. He reiterated recent statements that his client is not guilty and is in fact the victim in the case, calling her the victim of a “certain kind of sexual assault” but declining to elaborate, said the NJ.com report.
Calling Dufault a “model citizen” who had a good reputation at CHS, Smith said, “We believe in her innocence.”
Smith also told the judge that Dufault is applying for the state’s Pretrial Intervention Program, which allows first-time offenders who meet certain conditions to have all charges dismissed.
