‘Predator’ Teacher Urged Student to Watch ‘50 Shades of Grey’: Docs

A once beloved high school teacher now facing sex crimes charges with six under-age students. After prosecutors say she crossed the line in a major way. She's accused of urging a student to watch 50 shades of prey, allegedly sending explicit photos with a sex toy to another student and even allegedly having sex with yet another team in a closet on school property. This is Scandal, presented by Lawn Crime. I'm Sierra Gillespie. A major update in a shocking case involving a high school biology teacher. She's now accused of sexting a student, telling them explicit things she wanted them to do to her. She's also accused of taking it a step further, sending a student naked pics with a sex toy. In all, she's accused of committing sex crimes with six teenage students. But this isn't the first time we've told you about 25-year-old Maris Nichols, either. Nope. In fact, we reported just a few weeks ago about her first arrest after she was accused of having sex with a student in a closet on school property. There's so much to unpack here. So let's dig right in. Today, Scandal takes us to Douglas County, Georgia, which is about a half-hour west of Atlanta. And that's home to Alexander High School in Douglasville, the school that Maris Nichols used to teach biology at. Alexander High School's mascot is the Cougars. And that's something I just can't get past it because in this story, Maris Nichols is accused of being not only a Cougar, but a predator allegedly praying on six teenage students. And she now faces a slew of charges for all of these allegations. So let's start with the newest accusations that Maris Nichols faces. She was arrested for a second time this month on May 21st, according to local outlet Fox 5. Investigators found even more incriminating information against Maris and reported this to prosecutors. And that's how she now faces even more charges. Among the new charges, the allegation that Maris sent text messages to male students, but not just texts, sex. So according to prosecutors, in these messages, she described to these children what sort of sex act she wanted them to perform on her. She's also accused of taking it yet again, a step further, allegedly sending nude photos and videos of herself, including images with the use of a sex toy. Fox 5 reports she allegedly used the sex toy on a live video call with at least two teens under the age of 16. Now Maris is mostly accused of these crimes involving male students, but the new allegations include her alleged abuse of a female student, too, according to Fox 5 once again. She sent this student a naked photo and encouraged the girl to watch 50 Shades of Grey. And if you're unfamiliar, 50 Shades of Grey is a movie starring Dakota Johnson. It's based on a very famous smut book series. Basically, it's a highly sexualized movie that Maris Nichols, the woman supposed to be teaching these students about biology, encouraged a kid to watch. And all of these allegations are bad, but Maris is also accused of taking things to the next level to reportedly getting physical with multiple students. In the new set of allegations, it was revealed that Maris allegedly had sex with a male student in the back of his truck at a golf club. And if that sounds kind of familiar to you, it's because she already faced a pretty similar allegation. Now, I first told you about Maris Nichols in early May. She was arrested on May 7, and we did a scandal episode on her shortly thereafter. Now, according to prosecutors at the time, Maris allegedly had sex with a male student on May 2 in a Hummer parked in a driveway. At the time, we also reported the allegation that on April 23rd, she had sex with the same student allegedly in a closet. And not just any closet, by the way, a closet on school property literally on campus of the high school where she taught. After Maris's first arrest, she made a court appearance and was released on $40,000 bond, but with her second arrest on May 21st, a judge of the ante and posted her new bond at $74,000. In all, Maris faces 11 charges. Here's how they break down. One count of tampering with evidence, two counts of child molestation, four counts of improper sexual contact by an employee, and four more counts of grooming of a minor for a sexual offense. Now, in my first story about Maris, the school district was pretty tight-lipped about the allegations, but they since released another statement and revealed she's been placed on leave. This is according to Fox News Digital, their team says, quote, "Upon learning of the alleged misconduct, the district immediately launched an investigation. The Douglas County school system will continue to cooperate fully with state and local law enforcement. The districts cannot provide any additional information regarding the allegations. Any further inquiries should be directed to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office." And there are still some major questions here, right? Like, how did all of this information come to light? What led to these additional charges being brought? Could there be more than six students allegedly involved? And these are all questions we're gonna ask, too, when we sit down with today's expert, a former sex crimes prosecutor. But first, I wanted to dig a little bit deeper into what we do know about Maris. Now, shockingly, there's not much out there in terms of social media. Most of what we know about her comes from her linked-in profile. According to her own posted experience, she is the biology program lead for the Douglas County school system. It's a leadership role, meaning she wasn't just teaching biology. She was actually helping oversee the curriculum for other teachers. She also served as operations manager for Alexander High School's football program, coordinating orders, logistics, day-to-day operations. And before that, she was vice president of operations and human resources at a roofing company. Her bio says, quote, "I specialize in building efficient systems, leading compliance efforts, coordinating logistics, and developing people through clear processes and training." Now, her resume overall sounds pretty impressive, like a good leader, a proficient teacher. So, where is the disconnect? I have to remind you, she's not been convicted of these crimes, but that being said, she does face some pretty serious allegations. Let's talk about that. And many other burning questions that we have with today's guest. It's criminal defense attorney, Eric Fattis. Eric, great to see you as always. Thanks for coming on scandal with us again. And I guess let's start with this question. I mean, if we're talking about today's defendant, Maris Nichols. One of the charges she faces actually stems from the fact that she was a teacher, as a teacher, in a position of power and is accused of way crossing the line. So, to me, I'm seeing abuse of power here. Is that something that you would think too? You know, that is a big piece of this. When looking at these types of charges, usually most states make it a more serious crime if the perpetrator allegedly was in a position of trust, because what they're looking at is they're saying, "Hey, you know, this person had added influence over these individuals. These individuals may have been vulnerable. They may have looked up to this person, which can make it more easy to manipulate somebody under those circumstances." And so, usually the laws punish more severely a person who was allegedly in a position of trust. And that is a component of the charges against this teacher. And I kind of understand that, right? I mean, when I think of high school, it was not my finest hour those four years. I definitely had insecurities because I mean, if we put ourselves in the positions of a high schooler, our bodies are changing, our minds are changing. We have to think about, you know, are we going to go to college? What are our lives? It's a vulnerable population. And then if you add something like an abuse of power, a teacher, somebody we're supposed to be able to trust, and they cross the line, that's terrible. The allegations that she has. And another one of the charges that she faces involves grooming. Did you see just based on the allegations, any sort of grooming here? Well, certainly, it's not surprising that that would be a piece of this entire picture. You know, you have a teacher. They have access to these children, these children are impressionable, right? They're looking up to these teachers. They're seeking guidance, they're seeking direction, seeking help oftentimes. And so, it's not uncommon, unfortunately, Sierra, in this context for the alleged teacher perpetrator to engage in grooming, to sort of tee this up to make it easier for them to perpetrate against these child victims. And at least according to the allegations that that's what happens here. And I mean, I guess if you're looking at it, like that, it makes sense how we go from biology teacher to the allegations that she has here of sending, you know, nude photos and videos and having sex with some of these students because you don't just jump from one to the next, you don't, you know, assign biology chapter three and four, and then the next day allegedly have sex on campus. I mean, I think there has to be some form of grooming here. But let's talk about those allegations because this I just literally cannot get past. She's accused of having sex multiple times with students, one of which allegedly, again, she has not been convicted here. She's innocent until proven guilty. But the allegations here are that at one time she had sex with a students on school property in a closet. That's me. I mean, brazen at the very least these allegations of having sex on school campus. I mean, what do you make of that? Oh, gosh. I mean, it's true. how audacious right we're talking about a place that's supposed to be safe for kiddos this place that's supposed to be a sanctuary where they can grow where they can learn where they can become you know at least moving towards the adult versions of themselves and so I think their guard is down more at school they feel like it's a safe environment and so that could provide an avenue for for somebody who is looking to manipulate who's looking to be a perpetrator while this child's guard is down to have this take place on school grounds you know what if someone would have walked in and administrator another child another teacher something like that at least according to the allegations that didn't matter for this teacher and what her objective was and that is something I truly cannot wrap my brain around because you brought up let's say another student walked in and saw this not only do you have the child victim who's allegedly taking part in all of this but you have the person who witnesses this cheerpoint school is supposed to be somewhere safe where we're learning and our kids go you know again to learn to be safe and to see something like that I mean it's just it's wild and also I mean the reason that we're talking about this case today I did an episode of scandal a couple of weeks ago when she had her initial charges but then more charges were brought because now prosecutors say that there are upwards of six students does that surprise you or is that something you've seen in the past of a teacher or a person in position of power accused of abusing multiple children gosh here I mean this case has really escalated in that way now we have as a multiplicity of alleged victims here more than just the original two felony counts who's facing 11 counts now it's my understanding that there are up to six identified alleged victims that that doesn't you know there could be other alleged victims who have not yet been identified unfortunately oftentimes in this context when we're talking about essay on children including in the educational forum that can be a pattern that can be something that happens repeatedly it can be a person who has those proclivities and acts upon them multiple times until they get caught and and here at least according to the allegations it appears that you know this might be the end of the road for biology teacher Nicholas but sadly it's not terribly surprising to see that that there are allegations of for doing this to other people both men and women it's really sad to think about like what you said if she allegedly did this cross the line with one student oh I didn't get caught okay you know let's try on to the next and I mean I'm not saying that's exactly what happened here but there are allegations that at least six students were assaulted in all of this and it's just it's it's a lot to kind of wrap my brain around and I guess I wanted to ask you about your prosecutorial background here the fact that she faced these initial charges at first when we reported on it it was one student she allegedly had sex with multiple times which unto itself is very disturbing right but now a couple of weeks later arrested again with additional charges so what would you surmise happen between that initial arrest and the second arrest and all these additional charges how would that have come about there are so once the first charges came down and what once once that information what was disseminated to the public that sometimes can be a cue for other folks who may have information God forbid who may have been victimize themselves they might say hey look I didn't feel like coming out it was really uncomfortable with that and and this would be a massive disclosure for me to make but now that there's already charges involved sometimes that can make it easier for people who have allegedly been assaulted to come forward and say hey me too that this happened to me as well and I got to imagine that was a piece of it I imagine to the law enforcement you know just because they bring charges doesn't mean the investigation stops the investigation is ongoing and I bet that they receive leads and information from their preliminary investigation that led to the identification of these alleged additional victims yeah that's a really good point because when you I think you even said me too when we're thinking about the me to movement for example one person comes forward Harvey Weinstein is a great example all the sudden you have two four six all of these people involved who said yeah hashtag me to that happened to me also because you know once one person starts talking it makes other people feel you know it's easier to come forward so maybe that is what happened and now you talked about the investigation ongoing there does seem to be at least what prosecutors say in the court docs a lot of evidence against Maris Nichols so I kind of want to just talk about that so let's start with the texts this is something you and I talk about whether it's a sex crimes case whether it's a murder case texts are pretty much everything these days because we all of our phones you know it's a window into our souls but the idea here or the allegation rather that she specifically texted some of these children explicit things I want you to do XYZ to me like you know sexual sexting essentially why would she have that in black and white because that's so incriminating you know for me Sierra it goes back to how brazen her alleged conduct was look if there's a person who is willing to engage in a amorous encounter with a minor at their place of business which happens to be a school then it's not shocking to me that they would put sort of explicit messages in black and white in a text to these kiddos because you know they just have that audacity perhaps there's a detachment from reality perhaps that this person doesn't really realize the gravity of their conduct and how they might be found out they might just kind of be in their own little world pursuing you know whatever perverse proclovies they allegedly have and so you know not shocking to me that there is also digital forensics that appeared to support these allegations yeah it's it's crazy because you have the texts which you said black and white right there if she's sending these messages to a student not great I mean maybe her defense could say okay yeah it came from her phone but can we prove that it's her you know somebody could have grabbed her phone and texted that from her I don't know why that would happen but can we 100% prove that it's her I mean I don't know but what about the photos and the videos this to me is where I'm like how how do you even defend that that that's my big question because she has the allegations that she was on a live video chat and was you know naked or in some sort of explicit exposed state then sent photos in videos the use of a sex toy a lot of things I mean how can you defend something like that if her face is in it she can't say oh it's not me you know it's gonna be an uphill battle look in the essay context when we're talking about adults oftentimes there is an alleged consent element you know the the complainant might say hey this was not consensual whereas the defendant might say oh yes it was and and I can you know show you that they agreed to this and we were all in the same page we're all enjoying it that kind of thing that defense goes out the window when we're talking about minors because minors cannot legally consent and so one of your primary potential defenses in this context is taken out from under you from the beginning because it doesn't apply when when one of the alleged parties is a minor and so where you go from there you've got to at least consider any sort of mental health defenses if I was her counsel I would I would certainly encourage a mental health evaluation to see what may have been going on psychologically and how it could have contributed to what they're claiming she did I'm really glad that you brought up consent because this is something so important that I want our viewers just to be hammered into their mind that at any point you can say no at any point you can you know take back the consent if you started to have sex and you're like I'm not into it I'm out you're allowed to do that that's well within your rights you know however in this case there's no way for these kids to give consent because they're just that they're kids and I'm trying to wrap my brain around all of this I do this every time with my interviews where I put myself into the case and I'm like why would they do that why I asked you you know why would she send the text or why would she take the photos all of that and I'm wondering if maybe part of it has to do with her age and I don't know if this is like an explanation it's definitely not an excuse but she's 25 years old so she's pretty young I mean at that point she's just graduated college a couple years ago she wasn't even in high school 10 years ago less than that so I'm wondering if maybe she's thinking oh you know these kids are basically my age were you know almost like peers rather than me being their teacher versus the student I mean I don't know if that makes any sense to you what are your thoughts about that oh you know that could have factored into it and and you know is it arguably different than a case involving a six-year-old and a 12-year-old or something you know some people might see those differently in some senses but but I think the bottom line here is that anytime you have an adult and a minor in nearly all jurisdictions the minor simply cannot consent and it doesn't matter if the minor is within six years seven years of of the alleged perpetrator we draw a line there we we draw a line at that age of consent and and I think that that has to be respected however I think you know it wouldn't be shocking for a judge or someone to take into consideration the defendant's age in deciding what should happen with the case and what a potential sentence might look like okay so I want to ask about that because in these cases oftentimes we see it end in a plea deal and I'm wondering if you were prosecuting this case is that the route you would want to do And would you factor in the idea that one of these students or all six of them may have to testify? I mean, that's tricky for a person of any age, least of all, you know, what we've been talking about the bottom line here that their kids having to testify about something really intimate, something that they're probably gonna carry the trauma or at least the baggage of for the rest of their lives is not something the prosecutors would think about when deciding whether they want to take this to trial or talking about a possible plea deal. Sierra, when I was a prosecutor in the special victims unit, the victims experience of the process is always front of mind and how it could actually do them harm. You know, we have to consider trying to mitigate any risk to the victim as we're making legal decisions in the case from the prosecutorial side. So we've got to think about, hey, you know, putting this is already a national case. You and I are talking about it. It's a thing that might be embarrassing or humiliating for these victims who were duped into something to which they could not consent allegedly. And so if we go to trial on this, they've got to get up in front of a room of strangers and relive. They have to relive this traumatization that they've allegedly experienced. And so, are there alternatives that serve the interests of justice and may minimize the harm to these victims? That's when we're talking about a potential plea deal. Now, I'm thinking if I'm a prosecutor, the plea deal would have to include some significant incarceration. I think when we're talking about multiple minor victims and we're talking about SA, that is really a non-negotiable for me. But, you know, the prosecutor is going to look at does this person have criminal history? Are they a risk to reoffend going forward? All of these considerations matter and deciding whether to extend a plea or to go to trial? Yeah, there's a lot of factors to consider here. And I think the point, the idea here, the allegation that there are six victims, multiple, that this is a pattern, that is something that totally needs to be considered, at least in my opinion. And I hope the prosecutors do consider it. Eric Fattis, thank you for coming on scandal today and breaking down this case for us. I was going to be with you. And that is where today's episode of Scandal leaves us for now. If you like what you saw and you want to see more or connect with me on social media, you can find me on places like Instagram at Sierra Gillespie. Thanks for watching today's episode of Scandal. As always, I'm your host Sierra Gillespie and I'll see you next time.