Trial starts for former NC school leader accused of aiding in sexual abuse of student
A trial started Wednesday for the former head of the Montessori School of Raleigh accused of not doing enough to stop sexual abuse of a student by a teacher.
Nancy Errichetti worked as the head of the private school starting in August 2012. She is charged with aiding and abetting taking indecent liberties with a child, a felony. She is also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.
Prosecutors contend Errichetti knew about Nicholas Conlon Smith’s inappropriate behavior with students, but failed to take action, resulting in the abuse of another student in 2015.
Meanwhile, Errichetti promoted the teacher and allowed him to continuing to take overnight trips with students, a prosecutor said during opening arguments.
Errichetti’s attorney, Roger Smith Jr., contended that until police got involved in 2017, no information shared with his client indicated Smith had sexual relations with a student or had touched a student in a sexual way.
Nick Smith, 41, the former middle/upper school math director at the school, was charged in 2017 with 17 counts of statutory rape or sex offense and four counts of sex offense with a student. The charges involved two students who were sisters.
He pleaded guilty to 11 felony sex offenses, including statutory rape, sex act with a student and the sexual exploitation of a minor in August 2020 and was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. The incidents occurred in 2011, 2012 and 2015, according to court documents.
In 2018, the family sued the school, Errichetti and Smith. The litigation is paused pending the resolution of the criminal trial.
This story will be updated. Please return for a fuller report.
This story was originally published July 27, 2022 at 12:41 PM with the headline "Trial starts for former NC school leader accused of aiding in sexual abuse of student."
