LYNDHURST –
A 32-year-old Lyndhurst woman was arrested last Friday for allegedly engaging in inappropriate sexual activity on at least one occasion with a 15-year-old female student at the same Jersey City school where she is a teacher, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced.
The suspect, Lauren H. Mitchell, was remanded to the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail, with no 10% option.
She is charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault and one of endangering the welfare of a child. Molinelli said Mitchell is employed as a second-grade teacher at the Dr. Lena Edwards Academic Charter School. The sexual activity is alleged to have occurred at Mitchell’s Lyndhurst residence.
According to a news release from Molinelli’s office, several teachers at the school observed what they believed were inappropriate interactions between the victim and Mitchell on a class trip and reported their observations to school authorities. The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office notified the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit and the ensuing investigation by its detectives and the Lyndhurst Police Department resulted in the arrest.
Mitchell, who reportedly is married, is scheduled to be arraigned July 7. As a condition of the bail being set, she was ordered to surrender her passport and have no contact with the victim.
– Karen Zautyk
