Teacher charged with sex assault of 18-year-old student. First case under NH's new law. - Yahoo Money
BRENTWOOD — A former New Hampshire teacher of the year finalist is facing felony charges, accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old student last year in what is the first criminal case brought under a new state law.
Bridgette Doucette-Howell, 38, of Merrimack, was indicted on three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault for allegedly engaging in intercourse, and one count of felonious sexual assault for allegedly kissing the student between April 26 and May 13, 2021, in Kingston and Exeter.
The criminal case tests a new legal provision, known as the Howie Leung Loophole Law, intended to prevent those holding positions of authority from engaging in any kind of sexual contact with students, even if the student is not a juvenile and out of school at the time.
Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway said if there is a conviction, the maximum sentence for each aggravated felonious sexual assault offense is 10 to 20 years in prison. The felonious sexual assault penalty carries a 3 ½ to 7-year sentence, according to the indictment.
Doucette-Howell has waived arraignment and has entered a plea of not guilty. She is currently free on personal recognizance bail, conditioned on her having no contact with the alleged victim and having “no unsupervised contact with children under 18 except her own.”
Kurt Olson, one of Doucette-Howell’s attorneys, declined to comment on details of the case, except to say his client “continues to maintain her innocence of all charges.”
According to published reports, when the alleged crimes took place, Doucette-Howell was working at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston as a drama coach, her connection with the school on a limited basis for its theater arts extracurricular activity.
After the indictments were handed down by a grand jury, her teaching license was suspended by the Department of Education.
However, the investigation into his conduct in Concord led to investigations into , which resulted in the Bay State bringing multiple felony charges against him for his alleged criminal behavior with students at a camp in Newton, Massachusetts. In Concord, the result of the Leung case were civil suits against the school district and personnel fallout.
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source: https://money.yahoo.com/amphtml/teacher-charged-sex-assault-18-090255480.html
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