A New Jersey teacher pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault for having sex with her students, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Julie Rizzitello, 37, cut the plea deal more than a year after she was first charged in the case. She taught at Wall Township High until July 2024, when she resigned days before her arrest.
Two students told investigators Rizzitello had sex with them while she was teaching at the school. One student said the incidents occurred from 2017 to 2018, while the other said the assaults occurred in 2024, just months before Rizzitello’s arrest.
Rizzitello was initially charged with two counts of sex assault, three counts of criminal sexual conduct and one count of witness tampering. She pleaded guilty to the sex assault charges in exchange for the other charges being dropped.
The witness tampering charge stemmed from panicked communications from Rizzitello to one of the victims ahead of her arrest, when she instructed the student to delete nude photos she sent him, according to police.
Rizzitello is likely to face a 10-year prison sentence in the case, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2026. She will also have to register as a sex offender, face lifetime parole supervision and refrain from holding public office.
