Ohio Counselor Admits Sexually Abusing Student in Her Classroom and Sending Him Nude Photos

• A former counselor at a private all-boys school in Cincinnati admitted she had a sexual relationship with a student she was assigned to help in school
• Emily Nutley, 43, a mother of three, continued to text the boy when he said he wanted to end their relationship, prosecutors said
• Nutley’s husband filed for divorce from her shortly after she was arrested in 2024

A former head counselor at an Ohio Catholic high school accused of having an unlawful sexual relationship with a teenage student and sending him nude photos has pleaded guilty to the crimes.

Emily Nutley, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery, according to online court records, on Monday, April 7 — the day her trial was supposed to start, WXIX reports.

She faces up to ten years in prison when she is sentenced. She will also be added to Ohio Sex Offender Registry, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

“This child was in need of help and guidance but instead found an adult looking to act out her perverted sexual desires,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers said in a statement when Nutley was indicted in October 2024.

Nutley was the director of academic services at St. Xavier High School, a private all-boys college preparatory school in Cincinnati, prosecutors said, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. She said in court that she worked as a counselor for 18 years, according to the paper.

At the time of the crime, during the fall semester of 2023, she was the supervisor of a program that assisted students who were struggling with academics, according to a statement from the district attorney in 2024. The male victim was 17 at the time of the offense.

During this time, the DA says, Nutley began having “additional contact” with the victim outside school hours — which included her sending nude photographs and sexually explicit messages.

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By November 2023, the DA says, Nutley had begun a physical relationship with the student, engaging in oral sex with the student at least once on school grounds and once off campus and having sexual intercourse with him in her office.

“When the victim attempted to stop the encounters, Nutley continued to contact the victim via text messages,” the district attorney said.

Nutley was fired from her job in October 2024 after school administrators learned about the relationship and contacted police. Her husband filed for divorce from the mother of three shortly after the charges were announced, the Enquirer reports.

Her sentencing is scheduled for June 10.

Her attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.