Former Wall High School Teacher Sentenced to 10 Years for Sexual Assault of Students
A former New Jersey high school teacher who admitted to grooming and sexually assaulting two students has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison, authorities announced.
Julie Rizzitello, 37, previously an English teacher at Wall High School in Wall Township, received her sentence Wednesday in Monmouth County Superior Court. Judge Jill G. O’Malley ordered that Rizzitello serve the full prison term, remain under parole supervision for life, register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law, avoid all contact with the victims, and permanently forfeit her teaching position.
Rizzitello pleaded guilty in September to two counts of second-degree sexual assault related to incidents spanning from 2017 to 2024.
According to prosecutors, the assaults occurred at multiple locations, including Rizzitello’s residence in Brick Township, inside a vehicle parked in Wall Township, and at a bagel shop in Belmar owned by her family. Both victims had worked at the shop after Rizzitello encouraged them to take jobs there.
Investigators from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Bureau and Wall Township police determined that Rizzitello first met one victim when he was a freshman and the second when he was a junior at Wall High School. Authorities said she gradually built friendly relationships with the students, often seeking time alone with them, before escalating the interactions into sexual activity over several months.
While the investigation was ongoing, prosecutors said Rizzitello contacted both victims and urged them to delete electronic evidence connected to the crimes.
Police arrested Rizzitello in July 2024 after a school district employee alerted authorities about her relationship with a student.
Reports indicate that incidents involving the first victim took place in May and June 2024. The student, who had recently turned 18, allegedly engaged in sexual contact with Rizzitello in his car and at other locations. Prosecutors said Rizzitello also sent the student explicit images.
Following her arrest, a second victim came forward, telling investigators that he had sexual relations with Rizzitello in late 2017 and early 2018, when he was 17. Authorities said photographs and text messages supported his account.
During sentencing, Judge O’Malley rejected a defense request to reduce the prison term to five years, citing the severity of the offenses and the impact on the victims.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago emphasized that the conduct reflected deliberate grooming rather than isolated lapses in judgment.
“These crimes were not isolated incidents constituting moments of poor judgment; they were textbook cases of grooming,” Santiago said, noting the emotional and psychological harm inflicted on the victims.
Wall Township Police Chief Sean O’Halloran commended the victims for reporting the abuse.
“It is never easy to speak up, especially when the offender is someone in a position of trust,” O’Halloran said.
Rizzitello had been hired by the district in 2013 and earned an annual salary of approximately $62,000 before resigning. School officials previously stated the district was cooperating fully with law enforcement following the charges.
