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A convicted middle school teacher who was charged with repeatedly raping a teenage girl has been murdered in a North Carolina prison, according to officials.
Ernest Nichols, 60, was found unresponsive inside his cell at Greene Correctional Institution in Maury on Sunday morning at around 6.50 a.m., the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections (NCDAC) said. The agency performed emergency life-saving procedures and called EMS, who pronounced the 60-year-old deceased at 7:22 a.m.
A NCDAC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Nichols was not murdered in his cell, noting the Green Correctional Institution is a minimum-security prison with dormitory-style housing.
Nichols was convicted of statutory rape in 2011 and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars. He was set to be released in September 2027.
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On Tuesday, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI) issued a murder warrant to 41-year-old Wilbert Baldwin. Balwin, the agency said, was previously convicted of second-degree murder in 2010 in Richmond County.
He was served with the murder warrant and given no bond. He was returned to the Department of Adult Correction to continue serving his current sentence. A NCSBI spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital that no additional details were available, and authorities are waiting for Nichols’ autopsy results to release a full report.
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Teacher’s Criminal Past
- 2009 – Nichols arrested at home.
- 2011 – Convicted of statutory rape.
- 2025 – Found dead in prison cell.
Nichols worked at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte as a gym teacher for 14 years. After the allegations were made, he was suspended without pay and banned from the grounds, WBTV reported.
According to the local outlet, the disgraced teacher, who described himself as a “pig,” raped his 15-year-old victim repeatedly and watching his teen victim have consensual sex with others. Authorities said he had been posing as his teenage son on Facebook and had sent the teen girl sexually explicit messages.
The victim also alleged that Nichols made inappropriate requests to her, asking her to make up sexual stories and letting him know “whenever she entered the shower,” an arrest warrant revealed, according to WBTV.
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According to the Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office, Nichols was arrested in Oct. 2009 at his home. The agency said that the victim’s mother confronted Nichols after her daughter shared the abuse. Authorities said that Nichols drove down Highway 73 and threw the video recordings into the woods, but the evidence was retrieved by police.
On August 5, 2011, Nichols pled guilty to statutory rape. He was sentenced to 216-269 months (18-22 years) in the North Carolina Department of Correction.
