A former middle school teacher in New Jersey — who was already accused of sexually assaulting a student — has been hit with new concerning charges, according to authorities.
Blaze News previously reported that 36-year-old Ashley A. Fisler, who formerly went by her maiden name of Ashley Sulla, was arrested in March.
‘I take the blame for all of this.’
Fisler was charged on March 26 with six counts of first-degree sexual assault of a minor, one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of second-degree official misconduct, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office stated that Fisler faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in state prison for each of the first-degree charges and 10 years for each of the second-degree charges if convicted.
However, Fisler was indicted on a slew of child sex charges this week.
The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement released Wednesday that the Gloucester County Grand Jury indicted Fisler on 12 counts, including sexual assault of a minor, manufacturing child sexual abuse material, and pattern of official misconduct.
Citing court documents, the prosecutor’s office said the alleged victim — who is now an adult — informed authorities in January that he had an “unlawful sexual relationship” with Fisler when he was a minor and while she was his teacher at Orchard Valley Middle School.
The alleged victim told investigators he engaged in “multiple sexual encounters occurring in 2021 in Fisler’s vehicle and in her classroom.”
The prosecutor’s office noted that investigators discovered text messages between Fisler and the alleged victim that confirmed the “unlawful sexual nature of their relationship.”
According to WPVI-TV, prosecutors said investigators recovered “approximately 7,500 pages of text messages” between Fisler and the alleged victim.
NJ.com reported in April that Gloucester County Assistant Prosecutor Kylie Finley stated, “These text messages show not only the level of the grooming and manipulation by this defendant, but they also corroborate, multiple times over, the sexual relationship disclosed by this victim, including the specific sexual acts that the victim disclosed to police during his interview.”
In the text messages, Fisler offered to buy a sex toy for the teen and told him to send photos of his genitals to her, the prosecutor claimed.
The assistant prosecutor said, “In December of 2023, the victim confides in the defendant that he’s struggling in school because he’s getting erections more frequently in school. And the defendant’s response was, quote: ‘Oh my God, that’s fantastic.'”
“On January 20th of 2025, the victim told the defendant, quote, ‘I’ve had to try really hard to rebuild the things you broke inside of me. You destroyed things inside of me. You stripped me of my innocence,'” the assistant prosecutor stated.
The assistant prosecutor added, “The defendant admits that she hurt him countless times and says, quote, ‘I take the blame for all of this.'”
The assistant prosecutor continued, “She even admits that she put him in positions that she shouldn’t have and says, ‘I feel like I forced you to grow up abnormally quick.'”
The prosecution said Fisler sent text messages between May 2023 and January 2026 to the alleged victim, reminiscing about sexually assaulting the teen.
Fisler, of Washington Township, continued to contact the alleged victim through January 2026, when he tried to break off communication, officials said.
RELATED: Teacher accused of sexually assaulting student; court docs say she texted boy: ‘I won’t do well in jail … I’m too pretty’
Defense attorney Rocco Cipparone argued there was a lack of evidence to support the damning accusations and that the “selective, salacious” text messages were “taken out of context.”
Cipparone also claimed that all the text messages prosecutors cited were sent years after the alleged crimes and that there was no evidence from the years the alleged sexual assaults took place.
“What I did not hear the prosecution say is that there are any contemporaneous texts, images, evidence back in 2021 that reveal this alleged conduct,” Cipparone stated.
The assistant prosecutor explained that technical limitations prevented officials from recovering messages during the years when the alleged sexual assaults occurred.
Fisler previously told police that she left her teaching job in 2023 because she “blurred the lines with another student,” according to the assistant prosecutor.
Cipparone contended that his client had done nothing wrong: “Ms. Fisler told the police that the reason she left was because a female student had a hickey on her neck. She asked Ms. Fisler to buy her cover-up makeup so that she wouldn’t get in trouble from her parents.”
Cipparone suggested the alleged victim may have a financial motive for his allegations, noting that he consulted an attorney before contacting police.
Fisler is no longer employed by the Washington Township school district or any other district, prosecutors said.
Eric M. Hibbs, superintendent of Washington Township Public Schools, released the following statement to Patch shortly after Fisler’s arrest:
The district is aware of the charges announced by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office regarding a former middle school teacher. We take matters involving the safety and well-being of our students extremely seriously. The individual referenced is no longer employed by the district and separated from employment in April 2023. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to do so. Because this is an active criminal matter, we are unable to comment further at this time.
Fisler was denied bail and is being held in Salem County Jail pending trial, according to jail records.
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