Former NC teacher arrested, charged with sex offense involving a student, statutory rape

A former Raleigh teacher was arrested by police and charged with a sex offense involving a student and statutory rape.

Raleigh police arrested Nicholas Conlon Smith, 36, of 7401 Longstreet Drive, on Tuesday and charged him with statutory rape and a sex offense with a student. Smith was once employed at the Montessori School of Raleigh, where he was at one time the middle/upper school math director.

It was unclear when Smith had been an employee at the school and his faculty listing and “faculty spotlight” on the school’s website had been removed as of Tuesday afternoon, though partial results were still visible on Google.

No information was immediately available about the student or students involved.

The incident happened on Aug. 1, 2011, according to arrest records.

“There is nothing more important than the safety of our students,” said Nancy Errichetti, who leads the Montessori school. “These allegations are extremely disturbing and we are cooperating fully with the police investigation. We will also conduct a comprehensive review of our own policies and procedures as part of our ongoing commitment to protect our students.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Former NC teacher arrested, charged with sex offense involving a student, statutory rape."