Ex-Monmouth Regional Teacher Admits Sexual Contact With 2 Students: Report

FREEHOLD, NJ -- An Ocean County man admitted Monday to sending inappropriate text messages and/or having sex with students while he was a teacher at a Monmouth County high school, according to a report.

The Asbury Park Press report said Nicholas DePue, 29, of Jackson pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of endangering the welfare of minors, two girls, ages 16 and 17, both students at the Monmouth Regional High School in Tinton Falls.

Answering questions posed to him by defense attorney William Cunningham, DePue admitted to Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley that he endangered the welfare of the girls by sending them inappropriate text messages and/or having physical contact of a sexual nature with them. DePue conceded that his behavior would tend to impair the morals of minors over whom he had supervision in his position at the high school, the Press report said.

DePue had worked for Monmouth Regional as a science teacher for two years. A Patch report at the time of his June arrest noted that a cached version of pages on the school’s website said he taught honors biology. DePue has a biology degree from William Paterson University and had worked as a tutor for Ocean County College’s science and math departments through their Student Support Services. “I also taught martial arts, sports, and gymnastics for a gymnastics school in Manasquan,” he wrote on the page.

DePue, whose annual salary in 2014 was $43,168, according to DataUniverse.com, the Asbury Park Press’ public records site, was fired after he was arrested.

In July, DePue was charged with having sexual contact with a second student.

Both child endangerment charges he pleaded guilty to are second-degree crimes carrying prison terms of five to 10 years. In exchange for DePue’s guilty plea, the state has agreed to recommend that he be given five-year prison terms with no period of parole ineligibility, and that the terms run concurrently, the Press report said. DePue will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be under lifetime parole supervision.

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