Essex County Teacher Indicted for Sexual Assault of 6 Students

A Columbia High School teacher has been indicted by an Essex County Grand Jury on 40 counts of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child for engaging in sex acts with six male students.

Nicole DuFault, 35, of Caldwell, was arrested on Sept. 17, 2014, and charged with engaging in sex acts with five male students, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. By time the case was presented to a grand jury, police had identified a sixth male victim. All of the six boys were between the ages of 14 and 15 years old at the time of the incidents, the prosecutor’s office said.

DuFault is accused of engaging in sexual activity with all six boys on multiple occasions between 2013 and 2014, some of of which occurred on school property and in DuFault’s car, the prosecutor’s office said.

DuFault taught language arts at Columbia High School for nine years, after teaching at several other schools in Passaic and Bergen counties. The prosecutor’s office said the divorced mother of two young sons is originally from Bloomfield.

DuFault is free on $500,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. on March 6.