A Douglas County high school teacher accused earlier this month of having sex with a student now faces more charges, according to arrest warrants.
On Thursday, officials brought 11 more charges against Maris Nichols involving five additional teenagers with whom she’s alleged to have had inappropriate contact or groomed, court records show.
Nichols, 25, is now facing a total of 13 charges. They include two counts of child molestation, six counts of improper sexual contact, four counts of grooming of a minor for sexual offense and tampering with evidence.
Nichols could not be immediately reached for comment. No attorney is listed for her in court records, according to the Douglas County clerk’s office. She was released from jail shortly before noon Thursday on a $74,000 bond, according to jail and clerk officials. The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to requests for more information about the case.
The Alexander High School teacher was first arrested May 8. An arrest warrant accused her of having sexual intercourse with a student in a school closet around 3:30 p.m. April 23, and on a driveway in a rural residential area in the middle of the night on May 2.
After Nichols’ initial arrest earlier this month, Douglas County School System spokesperson Portia Lake said the district was “troubled” by the allegations. In a written statement, Lake added the district was cooperating with officials.
“Upon learning of the alleged misconduct, the district immediately launched an investigation. Student safety is the district’s highest priority. The alleged behavior is unacceptable and violates the professional standards all employees are required to uphold,” she said in the statement.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has asked the school district for more information following Nichols’ new charges. Her employment status is not known.
The additional warrants filed in the Douglas court system mention the same teen at the center of the earlier charges and accuse Nichols of grooming the minor by telling him “she liked him” and other inappropriate things.
Five other teens are also identified in the newly filed warrants. One of those is another Alexander High student with whom Nichols is accused of having sexual intercourse in the back of his truck at St. Andrews Golf Club in the early afternoon of May 3, an arrest warrant details.
The warrants, which span incidents from January to early May, also accuse Nichols of sending nude videos and pictures to the teens and other inappropriate messaging.
All but one victim is identified as an Alexander High student, and all of them are described as either minors or under the age of 16, according to the warrants.
— Staff writer Nila Roper contributed to this article.
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