Teacher Sentenced After Groping Student In South Jersey

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ — A Delsea Regional High School Junior ROTC officer was sentenced to probation after he admitted to groping a female student in 2019, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said.

Staff Sergeant James H. Merritt, 65, of Franklinville, pleaded guilty on Monday to an amended indictment for simple assault.

As part of the plea agreement, he was ordered to surrender his teaching certificate and has been barred from ever again being publicly employed.

In 2019, Merritt groped an 18-year-old student over her clothes in a classroom, according to prosecutors.

The act took place during school hours and included intimate areas of her body.

Merritt also took part in multiple text message conversations with the girl to continue the relationship following the encounter.

In 2021, a grand jury indicted Merritt on charges of second-degree official misconduct and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

After a 2024 superseding indictment with those same charges, the official misconduct charge was dropped on Monday, and the criminal sexual contact charge was lowered to simple assault pursuant to the plea agreement.

Merritt will serve no jail time, and his probation is set to end after he pays a number of fines and court costs.

Merritt began working within the Delsea Regional School District in 2011.

His current status within the system was not immediately available.

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