Judge drops hammer on former teacher who sexually assaulted 2 students and was impregnated by one of them

A former teacher found guilty of grooming and sexually abusing two students — including a teen who impregnated her — has learned her fate.

Julie Rizzitello — who had taught at Wall High School in New Jersey — was sentenced last week for her child sex crimes against two students.

‘This is the psychological impact. This is the devastation.’

Rizzitello, 37, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for “separately engaging in numerous sexual acts with two of her students over the course of several years,” the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in a Thursday statement.

In addition, Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley said Rizzitello must be on parole supervision for life, must register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law, must permanently forfeit her teaching position, and is barred from contact with her victims.

“These crimes were not isolated incidents constituting moments of poor judgment; they were textbook cases of grooming, involving a defendant who repeatedly leveraged tactics of isolation, manipulation, and control for the sake of her own selfish purposes,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said of Rizzitello.

Santiago continued, “The egregious nature of the conduct was further compounded by the plain fact that the emotional and psychological harm she inflicted came at the expense of two of the very same young minds she had been entrusted to develop and nurture.”

Wall Township Police Chief Sean O’Halloran added, “I want to commend the courage of those who came forward to report these crimes. It is never easy to speak up, especially when the offender is someone in a position of trust.”

As Blaze News reported in September, Rizzitello pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault. She was was arrested at her Brick Township home on July 3, 2024.

Authorities noted that Rizzitello met one victim when he was a freshman, and the other victim was a junior. Prosecutors said Rizzitello initially spent time with the students alone and developed a “friendly relationship” before it escalated into “sexual activity” that lasted for several months.

The prosecutor’s office stated, “The sexual acts with both victims took place largely in three locations: in Rizzitello’s Brick home, in a vehicle at a Wall Township parking lot, and at the Belmar bagel shop owned by Rizzitello’s family, where each victim was employed, at her suggestion.”

Investigators revealed that Rizzitello urged both victims to “delete evidence of the crimes from their personal electronic devices.”

The Asbury Park Press reported that Rizzitello told one victim she was “unable to get pregnant when she had unprotected sex with him in his family’s home on his birthday in January 2018, when Rizzitello was 29,” according to a court report the judge read during the sentencing hearing.

Judge O’Malley told the courtroom, “Weeks passed, and she wanted him to come over her house, and she wanted to get a pregnancy test. Turns out she was pregnant. And she believed it was his baby.”

O’Malley stated, “She got an abortion. And he knew this because she told him the doctor told her she was eight weeks pregnant, which aligned with them having sex on his birthday.”

The judge said the victim had been Rizzitello’s student.

O’Malley told Rizzitello, “So now not only does he have to deal with the fact that he was groomed throughout his entire high school years, that he was preyed upon by his teacher, someone he believed he loved and trusted, that he was sexually abused by this teacher, and now he’s struggling to come to terms with the fact that this individual had an abortion he wasn’t comfortable with.”

“This is the psychological impact,” the judge declared. “This is the devastation.”

RELATED: Teacher of the year arrested for alleged child sex crimes — then she’s arrested on similar charges just days later

Citing criminal complaints, the Asbury Park Press reported that Rizzitello sexually assaulted a 17-year-old student multiple times between Nov. 23, 2017, and Jan. 21, 2018.

The second victim was over the age of 18 when sexually abused by Rizzitello. However, New Jersey law prohibits teachers from having sex with students who are younger than 22 years old and who haven’t received high school diplomas.

According to the Coast Star and the Ocean Star, one of the victims submitted a statement that was read during the hearing.

“I still think about how this woman was the one person I trusted with every detail in my life. … She is actually a sexual predator. At one point, I thought I was a special part of her life,” the victim wrote.

The victim said Rizzitello knew she “could control” him.

“I wish it had not happened this way. I wish it had not happened at all,” the victim said.

According to the Coast Star and the Ocean Star, Rizzitello told the judge, “What I’ve done is inexcusable; I know that.”

“I hurt my children, my family, and my friends, people who trusted me. I would do absolutely anything in the world to change my choices,” Rizzitello said in court.

According to the Asbury Park Press, Rizzitello is married with two children — ages 4 and 6.

Rizzitello’s attorney, Mitch Ansell, had asked the judge for a five-year sentence because she has no prior criminal record and because of how her prison stint would affect her children.

“We are left now with two children who are going to be without their mom, and it’s her own doing,” Ansell said, according to the Coast Star and the Ocean Star.

Ansell added, “These children didn’t ask for this, and they have to bear this incredible responsibility at a very, very young age.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!