A former Gloucester County middle school teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student on multiple occasions wept Thursday as a judge ordered that she remain in jail to await trial.

Ashley A. Fisler, 36, of Washington Township, was arrested last week after her former student told investigators his teacher sexually assaulted him in her classroom and her vehicle in four separate incidents between 2021 and 2022.

Prosecutors allege Fisler, who is married, began grooming the victim in 2020 when he was 12 years old. They also say she continued exchanging at least 7,500 pages of sometimes-sexually explicit text messages with him after he moved on to high school.

Fisler denied she sexually assaulted the teen and her attorney questioned in court whether the prosecution had enough evidence to make a case.

The defendant worked as a teacher at Orchard Valley Middle School in Washington Township when the alleged crimes occurred. She no longer works as an educator.

She appeared via video from jail Thursday morning for the continuation of her detention hearing, which began Wednesday.

Superior Court Judge William Ziegler concluded that Fisler could not be safely released, given the nature of the allegations, the weight of the evidence and the potential for witness intimidation.

“A person who has maintained and allegedly groomed a boy over a period of at least five years could have a substantial influence over him if perhaps she were to communicate with him,” the judge said.

Ziegler said the defendant was able to keep her alleged actions with the victim hidden.

“In reaching this decision, the court is cognizant that the defendant was able to surreptitiously keep this relationship between herself and the victim private,” he said. “That is, she hid the relationship from her husband, other people and all others and continued this relationship knowing his precise age.”

A court public safety assessment had also concluded that she should remain jailed.

Fisler grew emotional as the judge announced his decision and put her hands over her face as she learned she would remain behind bars.

She is charged with six counts of first-degree sexual assault of a minor, one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and one count of second-degree official misconduct.

“The defendant has allegedly admitted in writing by text message her sexual involvement with the victim and the various acts between them have been confirmed by her own admissions in writing,” according to the judge, who said that the prosecution has a strong case against Fisler.

Prosecutors cited the thousands of text messages exchanged between Fisler and the victim in making their case.

Because of what the prosecution described as technical limitations, investigators could only recover text messages from May 2023 through this year. They do not have messages from the years when the alleged assaults occurred.

In the texts they do have, Fisler reminisced about sexually assaulting the victim, sought explicit photos of the teen and exchanged sexually charged messages, Gloucester County Assistant Prosecutor Kylie Finley said Wednesday.

The alleged victim also had nude photos of Fisler in his possession, the judge said Thursday.

In the text exchanges, the teen told Fisler about the damage she had caused.

“On January 20th of 2025, the victim told the defendant, quote, ‘I’ve had to try really hard to rebuild the things you broke inside of me. You destroyed things inside of me. You stripped me of my innocence,’” Finley said Wednesday.

The teacher responded by admitting she was to blame for the student’s problems, the prosecutor said.

“The defendant admits that she hurt him countless times and says, quote, ‘I take the blame for all of this,’” Finley said. “She even admits that she put him in positions that she shouldn’t have and says, ‘I feel like I forced you to grow up abnormally quick.’”

Fisler continued messaging the victim in January of this year, even after he tried to break off communication, Finley said. He contacted the police later that month.

Defense attorney Rocco Cipparone said the prosecution was cherry-picking salacious, out-of-context text messages and had no actual evidence of the crimes they claim Fisler committed.

In arguing that she should remain jailed until trial, the prosecutor said Fisler was a danger to others and poses a flight risk because she faces a potentially lengthy prison sentence.

Fisler joined the school district in 2015 and left in April 2023.

In June 2023, she launched a business that designs and creates personalized apparel, according to her resume.

As of 2024, she was working part time at her family’s tree care business.

Fisler will return to court May 14 for a pre-indictment conference.

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