Teacher at school for troubled children faces 70 charges over sexual assault on 16 year old female student

Nina Scott

Nina Scott, 28, a teacher at a Main Line school for students with emotional and behavioral problems, is facing 70 charges, including 34 counts of institutional sexual assault of a minor and 34 counts of corruption of minors.

She’s also charged with one count of concealment of the whereabouts of a child and one count of interfering with the custody of a committed person.

According to Philly.com, Nina told police that she wrote more than 30 letters to a 16-year-old former student.

Nina is accused of sexually assaulting the girl on school property, in her vehicle, and at her home from February to October of last year, while she was a teacher at TheVillage, police said.

The mother of one said she was buying a new headboard “for our bed.” She called her 2-year-old daughter “our baby girl.” She referred to the student as her girlfriend. She mentioned “rolling over in (her) bed and missing [the student] because she was not there.”

Police said she frequently signed the letters “Pretty.”

After the student left the school, she stayed at the Mid-Atlantic Youth Services facility in Luzerne County, where, during a routine inspection of the student’s room, staff members found letters from Scott and a journal in which the girl made romantic references to Nina, police said.

In the journal, the student referred to her former teacher as her girlfriend and called Scott “future wife,” “the love of my life,” and “good in bed,” a criminal complaint said.

In October, after staff discovered the materials, Downingtown police received a report of the possible sexual relationship. Radnor Township later joined the investigation.

During interviews with police, Nina and the student at first denied they were having a sexual relationship, saying instead Scott was a mentor to the girl, the criminal complaint said. They later acknowledged their relationship, police said.

According to the charging documents, the student said the relationship started when she gave Nina a note asking, “How would you feel if I kissed you?” and asking whether she would tell anyone. Nina returned the note saying she would not tell. The student said she kissed Nina inside her classroom.

Twice while the girl was home in Philadelphia for the weekend, she arranged for Nina to pick her up and the two had sex in a vehicle, she told police. The girl also said she left the school twice to go to Nina’s home and the two had sex.

The two had sexual contact several times in a classroom at TheVillage, the girl said, according to the criminal complaint.

Nina’s attorney, Evan J. Kelly, said, “These are just allegations. We’re in the process of reviewing the evidence at this point in time,” the West Chester lawyer said. “We’re going to do whatever is in the best interest of Ms. Scott going forward,” Kelly added.

School officials said they first learned of the abuse allegations in October and immediately suspended Nina. They fired her in December, after they learned of pending criminal charges.

“We fully cooperated with outside law enforcement as they proceeded with this investigation,” Jory Barrad, vice president of development and marketing at TheVillage, said in a statement.

Scott was hired in October 2015 and had previously worked for a cyber school.

TheVillage is a residential child-care facility in Radnor Township where students are sent by court order. It was formerly Presbyterian Children’s Village.

Radnor Police Superintendent William Colarulo said at a news conference:

“The only way I can describe what this teacher did is downright disgusting, and it just goes to show you that sometimes the vetting process has to be even more circumspect so you know the type of people we have surrounding our children.”

The student is receiving counseling, police said.