• Ernest Nichols, who pleaded guilty to statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl in 2011, was found dead in his dormitory Sunday morning
• Fellow inmate Wilbert Baldwin, a convicted murderer, has been charged with killing the 60-year-old former gym teacher
• Nichols had worked at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte for 14 years before his arrest in 2009

MAURY, N.C. (TDR) — A former Charlotte-area gym teacher serving time for repeatedly raping a teenager was killed by another inmate at Greene Correctional Institution on Sunday, authorities said.

Ernest Nichols, 60, was found unresponsive on the floor beside his bunk in a dormitory around 6:50 a.m., according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. Staff performed emergency life-saving procedures and called EMS, which pronounced him deceased at 7:22 a.m.

Convicted Murderer Charged

On Tuesday, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation issued a murder warrant for 41-year-old Wilbert Baldwin, a fellow inmate at the minimum-security facility. Baldwin was given no bond and transferred to Maury Correctional Institution.

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Baldwin is currently serving a 20-year sentence for a 2007 second-degree murder conviction in Richmond County. He was convicted in 2010 and will continue serving his current sentence while the murder investigation proceeds. The State Bureau of Investigation is handling the case at the request of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

2009 Arrest and Conviction

Nichols worked as a physical education teacher at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte for 14 years before his October 2009 arrest. He faced 27 charges including five counts of second-degree rape, five counts of statutory rape, six counts of second-degree kidnapping and four counts of second-degree forcible sex offense.

According to arrest warrants and court documents, Nichols raped a 15-year-old girl multiple times over a six-month period beginning in fall 2008. The victim was not a student at his school. Authorities said Nichols posed as his teenage son on Facebook and MySpace, sending sexually explicit messages to the girl.

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The victim alleged Nichols made inappropriate requests, asking her to make up sexual stories and text him whenever she entered the shower. He also allegedly watched the teen have consensual sex with another male and ordered her to tell people “she wanted” to have sex with him if anyone asked.

Confrontation and Evidence

When the victim’s mother confronted Nichols after her daughter disclosed the abuse, he reportedly called himself a “pig,” according to the Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office. Authorities said Nichols attempted to destroy evidence by driving down Highway 73 and throwing video recordings into the woods, but police retrieved the evidence.

Plea Deal and Sentencing

On Aug. 5, 2011, Nichols pleaded guilty to statutory rape as part of a plea agreement. Kidnapping and second-degree rape charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea. He was sentenced to 216 to 269 months, or 18 to 22 years, in the North Carolina Department of Correction. He was credited with time served and had been scheduled for release in September 2027.

After his arrest, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools suspended Nichols without pay and banned him from school grounds.

Greene Correctional Institution was placed on temporary lockdown following the incident as investigators work to determine the circumstances surrounding Nichols’ death. Authorities are awaiting autopsy results before releasing a full report.

Does justice system’s failure to protect inmates serve the public interest, regardless of their crimes?

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