Teacher pleads guilty to sex with 18-year-old student; victim did not want charges

BRENTWOOD — The first teacher charged criminally for having sexual relations with an 18-year-old student pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault as part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors.

Bridgette Doucette-Howell, 40, of Merrimack, was sentenced to one year in jail on the first aggravated felonious sexual assault charge. However, she will serve only a 14-day minimum in the House of Corrections, and pending good behavior, she will spend the rest of the sentence – 50 weeks - on administrative home confinement.

Doucette-Howell received a suspended 5 to 10 years sentence on the second count, which will be suspended for 10 years pending good behavior.

Doucette-Howell, a New Hampshire Department of Education Teacher of the Year finalist in 2016, was led off immediately following sentencing by a female Rockingham County sheriff’s deputy to begin her jail sentence.

The victim in the case did not speak at the hearing but did submit a victim impact statement to Rockingham Superior Court Judge James Kennedy.

In the statement, the victim told the judge that he did not want Doucette-Howell to be charged criminally.

“I do not wish for Bridgette to be punished under criminal law for our reactions from our unhealthy circumstances of life,” he wrote.

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Doucette-Howell charged under new state law

Doucette-Howell was working at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston as a drama coach when the alleged assaults took place.

She was originally indicted in March 2022 by the Rockingham County grand jury on three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault for engaging in intercourse, and one lesser count of felonious sexual assault for kissing the student. All charges relate to activity that took place in Kingston and Exeter between April 26 and May 11, 2021, according to court documents.

The criminal case was the first related to a new state law, known as the Howie Leung Loophole Law, that went into effect in January 2021. RSA 632-A:2 I (k) is intended to prevent those holding positions of authority from engaging in any kind of sexual contact with students, even if the student is not a juvenile and is out of school at the time.

The law’s passage was in response to the 2019 case of Concord High School teacher Primo “Howie” Leung, who was reported after he was seen allegedly kissing a student of adult age in a car. At that time, although teachers could have been fired for engaging in sexual or romantic contact with students no matter their ages, New Hampshire did not have a law on the books that could lead to Leung being charged with a crime.

Violation of the statute makes it an A-level felony for any authority figure – an employee, contractor or volunteer – of a primary or secondary educational institution to engage in sexual activity with any student, even if 18 or older. The law applies up to 10 months after the students' “graduation or departure.”

According to New Hampshire law, “Consent of the victim” is not to be considered a defense.

Victim says Doucette-Howell should not have been criminally charged

According to the written statement issued by the unnamed victim in this case, he does not approve of the way the case was handled.

"The way the case was handled by the Rockingham County Sherriff's Department, had more trauma than the case ever did," he wrote.

“The motives behind the acts accused of (Doucette-Howell), are not only inaccurate, but they don’t describe who Bridgette is.”

The victim stated he was suffering mental distress at the time and that Doucette-Howell helped him.

“I needed someone to understand what I was going through, and Bridgette helped me get through those difficult times,” the victim wrote.

“…My family and I were not only shocked, but were questioning as to why the case qualified for criminal charges when it should have stayed at the school level.”

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County attorney says ‘justice was served’

According to state law, aggravated felonious sexual assault under this statute can carry a sentence of 10 to 20 years in state prison for each count. But after the hearing, Assistant County Attorney Kristin Vartanian said she believed justice was served in this case with this sentence.

“The sentence in this case reflects the particular circumstances in the case,” Vartanian said.

Vartanian said it is common in plea agreements for some charges to be tossed out when a defendant agrees to plead guilty to others. In addition, she said, it is not uncommon for sentences that come out of plea agreements to be less than the state maximum.

Doucette-Howell’s lead attorney, Kurt Olson, also said he was “quite pleased” with the way the plea deal worked out. The plea agreement came after a court-approved judicial mediation session between defense attorneys and prosecutors before a neutral third party.

As part of the plea deal, Doucette-Howell was ordered to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, except for her children. Other conditions include Doucette-Howell engaging in mental health counseling with a therapist certified by the Association for Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse, “and meaningfully comply with all treatment recommendations.”

Once out of jail, Doucette-Howell is required to register as a sex offender. Should she ever move, she is required to register within five days with the local police department in the town or city where she settles in New Hampshire. According to Vartanian, should she move out of state, Doucette-Howell will have to comply with the related laws of the jurisdiction where she resides.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Teacher pleads guilty to sex with 18-year-old student