A North Carolina middle school gym teacher who once referred to himself as a "pig" before being jailed for repeatedly raping a 15-year-old girl was killed by another inmate in his cell on Sunday. Ernest Nichols, 60, was convicted in 2011 and given a 15-year prison sentence for statutory rape.
He had initially been arrested on a shocking 27 charges that included multiple sex-related offenses, according to WRAL. Prison officials discovered Nichols dead in his cell at Greene Correctional Institution in Maury, North Carolina, around 6:50 a.m., prompting an immediate lockdown of the facility. It is unclear what led to his murder. Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.
Punished in a Different Way
By Tuesday, authorities had charged another inmate, Wilbert Baldwin, with Nichols' murder, according to reports. Baldwin is already serving time for a second-degree murder conviction. Before his arrest, Nichols had spent 14 years working at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte.
Once school officials learned of the allegations against him, he was immediately suspended without pay and barred from entering school property, WBTV reported earlier.
His victim, a 15-year-old who was not enrolled in the school, said that he impersonated his own son on Facebook and MySpace and then repeatedly raped her over the course of six months in 2008.
She said that Nichols would send her sexually explicit messages and make bizarre requests, such as fabricating sexual stories or informing him "whenever she entered the shower," according to an arrest warrant acquired by the site.
Sexual Predator
The disgraced former teacher would often watch the teen engaging in consensual sexual intercourse with another man and would instruct her to tell anyone that "she wanted" to have sex with him if they were questioned about their interactions, which all occurred at his family's house, according to the warrant.
The victim's mother confronted him about the ongoing abuse before Nichols was arrested. During that confrontation, he reportedly called himself a "pig," according to the arrest warrant.
Police arrested Nichols in October 2009 at his home, where they found videotapes, a video camera, photographs, and various sex toys scattered throughout the property.
At his court hearing, Nichols refused to cooperate with the judge when asked to enter a plea, repeatedly claiming he wasn't a "straw man" and insisting he didn't understand the charges against him. A bailiff eventually had to physically restrain him, the outlet reported.
Nichols had been scheduled for release in September 2027.
