A former New Jersey high school teacher was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after admitting she sexually assaulted two male students and used “textbook” grooming tactics that a judge said caused lasting psychological harm, according to prosecutors and courtroom accounts. Julie Rizzitello, 37, was taken into custody after the sentencing.
The case has drawn intense attention in Monmouth County because it spans years, involves two victims, and centers on abuse of authority in a classroom setting. The judge, prosecutors and a victim statement described a pattern in which Rizzitello cultivated trust, pushed secrecy, and escalated to sexual contact in multiple locations, including school-related settings. Rizzitello pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault, and the court imposed a 10-year term that will run at the same time on both convictions, meaning she will serve a decade in prison.
Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O’Malley sentenced Rizzitello on Wednesday after rejecting a defense request for a shorter term. In her remarks from the bench, O’Malley said the conduct was not a brief lapse but a deliberate series of steps that preyed on vulnerable teenagers. “This is grooming,” O’Malley said, describing the behavior as the kind she regularly sees in court. The judge told the former teacher that the case showed a calculated approach built on isolation, manipulation and control.
Rizzitello taught English at Wall Township High School and lived in Brick Township, court accounts said. One of the cases involved a student who was between 16 and 17 and under her supervisory authority at the time of the abuse. The other case involved a student who was at least 18 when sexual intercourse occurred, but the judge said grooming began earlier while he was still a minor. O’Malley said age alone did not erase the power imbalance of a teacher pursuing a student and that the second victim was not an equal participant in a relationship.
Details aired at sentencing described the first victim, identified in court as BS, as a freshman when the relationship began in 2017. The judge said Rizzitello started by drawing him into private attention, including lunch alone in her classroom, compliments, and personal conversations that grew more intimate. The court said she encouraged secrecy and gradually normalized behavior that crossed boundaries before sexual activity began. At one point, the judge said, Rizzitello told the teenager she had dreamed about having sex with him, a statement the court described as part of the grooming sequence that shifted the relationship from teacher-student to something the student felt compelled to hide.
The court also focused on a pregnancy and abortion that it said added a separate layer of trauma for the first victim. The judge described an encounter around the student’s birthday in which Rizzitello encouraged him to have sex without protection. Weeks later, the judge said, Rizzitello told him she was pregnant and that the timing matched their encounter, then later terminated the pregnancy. O’Malley said the victim had to come to terms not only with being abused by a person he trusted, but also with what he described as the emotional impact of the pregnancy ending. The judge said the episode became part of the “psychological impact” and “devastation” the victim carried into adulthood.
The second victim, identified as CJ, was also a student at Wall Township High School. The judge said the grooming started while he was still underage and continued into a period when he was legally an adult, which the court said did not change the underlying dynamic. O’Malley rejected defense characterizations that framed the relationship as affection, telling the former teacher the connection was built on manipulation and control. The judge said the time gap between the two cases did not show reform, but rather a return to predatory behavior with a new target.
Prosecutors and court accounts said the sex acts took place largely in three settings: Rizzitello’s home in Brick, a vehicle in a parking lot in Wall Township, and a bagel shop in Belmar owned by Rizzitello’s family. Both victims worked at the bagel shop, and prosecutors said they were employed there at her suggestion. The descriptions in court presented those locations as part of a consistent pattern in which the teacher created chances to isolate students away from supervision and then used secrecy to keep the behavior hidden from parents, school staff and peers.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said the conduct fit classic grooming patterns in which a trusted adult uses authority and access to shape a relationship on the adult’s terms. Santiago said the crimes were not isolated moments but a repeated course of behavior that leveraged isolation, manipulation and control. Investigators also said Rizzitello contacted both victims during the investigation and asked them to delete evidence from personal electronic devices, a detail prosecutors cited as a sign of consciousness of guilt and a continuing effort to manage the narrative.
The criminal case developed after an investigation that prosecutors said revealed two victims and multiple incidents over several years. Public accounts said Rizzitello was arrested in July 2024 and resigned from her teaching position. She later entered guilty pleas in August 2025. Each conviction carried a maximum of 10 years, and O’Malley imposed the full 10-year term on each count while ordering the sentences to run concurrently. The judge also determined she would serve her sentence in a regular state prison facility, not in a specialized treatment facility, according to courtroom coverage.
At sentencing, the judge described several aggravating factors, including the vulnerability of the victims, the breach of trust inherent in a teacher-student relationship, the risk of re-offense and the need to deter similar conduct. O’Malley gave only limited weight to the fact that Rizzitello had no prior criminal convictions, court accounts said. “This behavior took place for many years,” the judge said, describing it as intentional, methodical and deliberate. The judge also rejected arguments that prison would create excessive hardship for Rizzitello’s children, saying the defendant brought the consequences on herself.
Rizzitello’s defense attorney, Mitchell Ansell, asked the court for a reduced five-year sentence, citing her lack of a prior record, her participation in therapy and the impact incarceration would have on her two young children, according to courtroom coverage. Rizzitello addressed the court and apologized to her family, friends and children, describing therapy, church attendance and personal growth. The judge said the apology omitted the victims and appeared centered on the defendant’s own losses rather than the harm inflicted on the students.
A victim impact statement read into the record described lingering anxiety and difficulty trusting others after the abuse. “I do not think Julie is evil,” the victim wrote, adding that he believed she needed serious mental help. The statement described how the secrecy and imbalance shaped his high school experience, and it linked the aftermath to panic attacks and disrupted schooling. The judge said she placed heavy emphasis on the victim’s words, noting that the student described falling in love while still a child.
Beyond the prison term, the court ordered long-term restrictions that will follow Rizzitello after release. She must register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be under parole supervision for life, according to court accounts and prosecutors. The judge also entered permanent sexual assault restraining orders barring any contact with either victim. The sentencing included jail credit and a notice of the right to appeal.
The case unfolded against a broader public focus on school safety and the ways adult authority can be used to conceal abuse. Prosecutors framed the crimes as a betrayal of a duty to educate and protect teenagers, not exploit them. The courtroom descriptions presented a common theme in grooming cases: attention that feels special to a student at first, followed by secrecy, isolation and escalating contact that becomes difficult for a young person to resist or report. Investigators and prosecutors credited the victims for coming forward and said the outcome reflected the seriousness of a teacher abusing access to students.
Rizzitello remained under court supervision after her guilty pleas and was taken into custody after sentencing. Prosecutors said the no-contact orders and sex-offender registration requirements remain in place. The next formal steps are expected to include standard post-sentencing filings and the processing that follows a state prison commitment, with any appeal proceeding on a separate track.
Author note: Last updated February 13, 2026.
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