By Kevin Coughlin
A teacher at West Morris Mendham High School has pled guilty to official misconduct, after admitting to having sex with an 18-year-old student, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday.
Nicole McDonough, 33, of Mount Olive, was admitted into the state’s Pre Trial Intervention program for three years. She agreed to resign from the school and relinquish her teaching certificates and accept disqualification from future public employment.
McDonough was suspended in December 2014, and has admitted to a pair of sexual encounters in the spring of that year in Mount Olive with the West Morris Mendham student, according to Prosecutor Fredric Knapp.
She “also admitted that she was aware of policies within the West Morris Regional High School District that required teachers to maintain a professional relationship with students and that her conduct violated those policies. She also admitted that she gained a personal benefit from the sexual relationship,” the prosecutor’s statement said.
In exchange for McDonough’s plea to the second-degree misconduct charge, the prosecutor’s office dropped other counts in the indictment.
Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Taylor handled the plea, which was presented by Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn.
Knapp thanked the Mendham Borough Police, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office – Criminal Investigations Section, and the Prosecutor’s Office of Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit for their assistance.
