Former Attleboro Church School Principal Indicted on Child Molestation Charges

By David Linton
Sun Chronicle
June 3, 2014

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/former-attleboro-church-school-principal-indicted-on-child-molestation-charges/article_b902b71c-eb45-11e3-8380-0019bb2963f4.html

Assistant Pastor Jeffrey Nichols of the Grace Baptist Church and principal of Grace Baptist Christian Academy in Attleboro, MA, right, with his attorney Gregory DiPaolo, is arraigned in Attleboro District Court Tuesday, January 14, 2014 on charges of sexual assault. The assault involved a female student. Nichols' bail was set at $25,000. (Staff file photo by Mark Stockwell)

The former assistant pastor of Grace Baptist Church and principal of the Grace Baptist Christian Academy, who was arrested in January for allegedly molesting one of his female students, has been indicted by a Bristol County Grand Jury, lawyers said today.

The Rev. Jeffrey A. Nichols, 47, faces charges in Fall River Superior Court of indecent assault and battery, accosting a person of the opposite sex and open and gross conduct.

He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last Tuesday in Fall River Superior Court, where the case will now be prosecuted. He has been held in jail on bail since his arrest.

After his arrest, a prosecutor said Nicholas violated a position of trust by molesting one of his seventh-grade students beginning in 2008 when she was 13, and continuing until the end of the school year in June 2013.

Authorities and church Pastor Jeff Bailey say Nichols admitted the allegations made by the girl.

His arrest shocked Bailey and the church. Nichols was a trusted assistant for 23 years and was well-respected at the church and school.

Nichols allegedly repeatedly indecently touched the girl and also made sexual comments to her. He asked her to expose herself to him and demanded sex after exposing himself to her, a prosecutor said at his initial arraignment in Attleboro District Court.

His indictment was disclosed today in Attleboro District Court where the case had been scheduled for a pretrial hearing.

Nichols is due back in Fall River Superior Court Aug. 7 for a pretrial conference.