A former middle school teacher serving time for statutory rape was found dead in his prison bunk on October 5, and authorities have since charged a fellow inmate, a convicted murderer, with his death.
Ernest Nichols, 60, was discovered deceased beside his bunk at the Greene Correctional Institution around 6:50 a.m.
Just two days later, the Green County Sheriff’s Office charged Wilbert Baldwin with murder in connection with Nichols’ death, according to local reports. Baldwin was already serving a sentence for a 2010 conviction for second-degree murder.
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Nichols was convicted of statutory rape in 2011. The conviction stemmed from a six-month-long period starting in the fall of 2008, during which Nichols repeatedly raped a 15-year-old girl, according to a search warrant. The victim was not a student at Ransom Middle School, where Nichols had been employed as a gym teacher.
Details from the search warrant also revealed disturbing additional allegations about Nichols’ conduct. He allegedly watched the teenage victim engage in consensual sexual activity with another boy. Furthermore, he reportedly created a fake Facebook account using his teenage son’s identity to message the victim, asking her to fabricate sexually explicit stories and to notify him when she was entering the shower. He also allegedly instructed the victim to tell others that the sex with him was consensual if questioned.
The investigation into Nichols’ death and the subsequent charge against Baldwin are ongoing.
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