Middle school teacher jailed for raping a student is killed in prison by his murderer cellmate, officials say

Wilbert Baldwin (left), is accused of killing fellow inmate Ernest Nichols (right), in a North Carolina prison - (NCDAC)

A former North Carolina middle school teacher serving time for repeatedly raping a teenage girl was found dead inside a state prison last weekend – allegedly killed by another inmate who was already serving time for murder.

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said Ernest Nichols, 60, was discovered lying on the floor beside his bunk at Greene Correctional Institution Sunday morning.

Wilbert Baldwin, 41, has been charged with Nichols’ murder, officials said. Baldwin, who was serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder in Richmond County that happened in 2007. He has now been moved to Maury Correctional Institution and is being held without bond.

According to WBTV, Nichols was teaching physical education at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was convicted in 2011 of statutory rape. He had been set for release in September 2027.

Wilbert Baldwin (pictured), is accused of killing fellow inmate Ernest Nichols, in a North Carolina prison (NCDAC)

After 14 years with the school district, Nichols was suspended without pay and banned from school grounds when administrators learned of the accusations, WBTV reported, referring to court documents the outlet obtained detailing his crimes.

According to the court documents, Nichols raped a 15-year-old girl multiple times over a six-month period beginning in the fall of 2008. Investigators said Nichols also watched the teenager have sex with another boy.

The former teacher reportedly used a fake Facebook account posing as his teenage son to contact the victim, asking her to create sexually explicit stories and to message him “whenever she entered the shower,” according to an arrest warrant cited by the outlet.

Nichols also allegedly told the girl to tell people “she wanted” to have sex if anyone asked about what happened. The victim was not a student at Ranson Middle School, where Nichols worked.

Nichols, 60, was discovered lying on the floor beside his bunk at Greene Correctional Institution Sunday (NCDAC)

At the time of Nichols’ arrest in October 2009 , he was married with two children.

He faced a long list of charges, including five counts of second-degree rape, five counts of statutory rape of a person 13, 14, or 15, six counts of second-degree kidnapping, four counts of second-degree forcible sex offense, three counts of crime against nature and six counts of indecent liberties.

The Department of Adult Correction said the investigation into Nichols’ death remains ongoing.