A former teacher from New Jersey has admitted to sending x-rated messages to a student.
30-year-old Michelina Aichele pleaded guilty to third-degree child endangerment charges, as well as using school equipment to send the messages and nude photos to students.
The former English teacher was arrested in October after police and high school officials found sexual photos and explicit conversations sent over text, email and social media between Aichele and a male student between February and April 2018.
According to Somerset County Police, the male student admitted the teacher sent him four photos of ‘her exposed bare breasts and buttocks’ on Snapchat when he was a junior in high school.
Police said in a statement, via NJ.com:
He further stated that she sent him text messages through Snapchat, stating that she thought about him while masturbating.
Aichele reportedly tried to blame students for the leaked pictures, saying they had stolen them from her phone.
On further investigation, however, authorities found the teacher had used her school email address to send explicit messages to the student, including asking him to take the ‘Rice Purity Test’, which is supposed to measure an individual’s sexual promiscuity.
When high school administrators first questioned Aichele and the student, they both denied any relationship. When police became involved though, the student started talking to the officers about what had happened.
Appearing in court this week, Aichele admitted to having a relationship with the student, who was 16 years old at the time.
Aichele faces up to five years in prison, though her official sentencing is set for early July. In the meantime, she was ordered to give up her teaching certificate, will be on parole for life, and has to register as a sex offender. If she violates these terms she could serve a year in jail, according to the plea agreement.
According to NJ101.5, Aichele asked the student about his penis size, and said she thought about him while pleasuring herself.
The relationship was apparently exposed when a girl alerted authorities to an ‘inappropriate sexual relationship’ between the teacher, who was 29 at the time, and the boy, who had been Aichele’s student for the past two years.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.