Former South Jersey teacher charged with sexual assault began grooming student when he was 12, prosecutor alleges
Ashley Fisler was charged last week with sexually assaulting a former student at Orchard Valley Middle School in Washington Township.
A former Washington Township middle school teacher began grooming a student for a sexual relationship when he was 12 and abused him for years, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
The allegations against Ashley Fisler, who was charged last week with sexually assaulting a former student at Orchard Valley Middle School, were detailed during a detention hearing to determine whether she should be released pending trial. Superior Court Judge William Ziegler said he would issue a decision Thursday.
Fisler, who is no longer working as a teacher, is charged with six counts of sexual assault of a minor and one count each of endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct of a public servant.
“This was more than just six isolated acts of sex abuse against a minor,” said Kylie Finley, an assistant Gloucester County prosecutor. “This was a pattern of six years of grooming, manipulation, and abuse by this defendant as a middle school teacher against one of her active and former students.”
Finley said investigators retrieved more than 7,500 pages of text messages between Fisler and the student from 2023 to 2026. In one message, Fisler acknowledged that she was sexually attracted to the student when he was between 13 and 14 years old, Finley said.
Defense attorney Rocco Cipparone said the “selective, salacious” text messages cited by the prosecutor lacked context. There were no text messages exchanged prior to 2023, he said.
“This is not a rock solid, clear-cut case by the prosecution,” Cipparone argued. “This is approximately a five-year delayed complaint to the police.”
Prosecutors said the student, now an adult, came forward in January and disclosed the allegations. His allegations were corroborated by the text messages, Finley said.
The victim tried over the years to end the relationship, Finley said, but Fisler’s “criminality could not be deterred.”
“She would not let him go,” Finley said.
In a Jan. 2, 2025, message to Fisler that Finley read in court Wednesday, the victim wrote: “I have 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 the two continued to communicate until recently, sending text messages and sexually explicit photographs. Fisler also allegedly sent inappropriate messages to two other students, including a photo of herself in a bikini, the prosecutor said.
Cipparone, arguing for his client to be released on bail, noted that Fisler has no prior criminal record and poses no flight risk or danger to the community, he said.
Fisler, 36, left the Washington Township school system in April 2023. She has an online clothing business and works with her family’s tree business, Cipparone said.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years on each count of sexual assault of a minor and up to 10 years on each of the two remaining charges.
Fisler attended the hearing virtually from the Salem County Jail, where she has been held since her arrest last week. She spoke during Wednesday’s hearing only to confirm her name.
Ziegler said he wanted to take time to review the law and planned to issue a ruling Thursday. He signed a restraining order barring Fisler from any contact with the victim.