43-year-old teacher charged with sexually abusing 15-year-old boy; authorities say she was “obsessed” with him

A middle school teacher in New Jersey has been charged with sexual assault after the school’s assistant principal alerted authorities to an inappropriate relationship.

Allison Havemann-Niedrach, 43, was charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to a press release from the Monmouth County District Attorney’s Office.

Havemann-Niedrach was a special education teacher at Freehold Intermediate School, where she allegedly began courting a 15-year-old boy who was in eighth grade. In early June, the school’s assistant principal notified authorities about Havemann-Niedrach and the student. She reportedly brought the student food, ate lunch with him every day, and touched him inappropriately.

“The victim told a friend that she was dating a teacher,” Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Danielle Zanzucki said in court, according to Jersey Shore Online. “Another teacher reported that she saw the defendant rubbing the victim’s neck and back area in circular motions and that she appeared to be flirting with him and noticed her touching his leg.”

The alleged victim’s mother was informed of the allegations and stated that her daughter saw her son sitting in the teacher’s car and talking to him on the phone late at night. The male student initially denied that he had an inappropriate relationship with Havemann-Niedrach, instead saying that he was dating her daughter. He agreed to let police search his phone, where they discovered more than 25,000 text messages between him and the teacher, including deleted messages that police were able to recover.

Days later, the student’s mother contacted police again, saying her son had been scared after he turned in his phone. The student eventually confessed to his mother that he had a sexual relationship with Havemann-Niedrach, which he said began in January of this year.

Zanzucki told the court that the sexual acts took place in the teacher’s house.

“It was so much for the boy that he had a mental crisis in the middle of the examination,” Zanzucki said in court. “I would say she is obsessed with this child.”

The student asked the police to confiscate his cell phone because he believed this was the only way to stop communication with Havemann-Niedrach.

In addition to the text messages, the two also exchanged sexually explicit photos and videos.

“There are photos of a sexual nature that were exchanged between the two,” Zanzucki said. “And also a video that shows them engaging in sexual acts.”

Havemann-Niedrach’s lawyer William Wackowski from the law firm Jonathan F. Marshall argued against pretrial detention because his client had no previous convictions and was not a flight risk. She was released into house arrest at her parents’ house.

“She was a special education teacher,” Judge Vincent Falcetano said, according to JSO. “And she should have known that this limit is even narrower than for a regular teacher.”

Havemann-Niedrach is married, has two children and was named one of the most phenomenal women under 40 by the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore in 2017.