Reported by: Shannon Kettler
Web produced by: Jessica Noll
A Northern Kentucky teacher is facing criminal charges after police say she sexually abused a student.
Twenty-five-year-old Nicole Howell, of Covington, turned herself in to police Tuesday morning.
Howell, a teacher from Dayton High School, is charged with one count of sexual abuse.
Court records state that the 16-year-old told police the relationship began after the teacher invited him to her Covington apartment after a football game.
The attorney for the teacher however says the allegations are not true.
In the fall of 2008, Howell had just started teaching English at Dayton High School.
More than a month into her new job, allegations surfaced she was having a relationship with a male student who wasn't in any of her classes.
The student at first denied the allegation but two days later came forward to the principal.
"The student came in and spoke to the high school principal and indicated there indeed had been conduct and contact between the two of them," said Gary Rye, Dayton Schools Superintendent.
Court records go on to say the teen "stated that he has been to the defendant's residence and has had similar sexual encounters with her on four to five different occasions."
"To describe it best, she was charged with sexual abuse first degree which was recently amended in the Commonwealth that would pertain to her having an inappropriate relationship with this student," said Lt. Col. Spike Jones with the Covington Police.
During an interview with police, court documents say Howell "admitted that she had several phone conversations as well as conversations via text messaging which occurred after school hours and on the weekend."
"My client has acknowledged to myself and the police that she exercised poor judgment here in terms of conversations but poor judgment does not constitute a crime," said Patrick Moves, Nicole Howell's Attorney.
Howell's attorney says his client was willing to take a polygraph.
"She's devastated by these allegations but quietly confident that she will not be convicted of any crime due to the fact the truth is on her side," said Moeves.
Howell is due back in Kenton County court on Jan. 20.
She has been suspended without pay since December pending the outcome of the criminal case.
