Two teachers in Georgia have been arrested after they were accused of having sex with the same student, leading to the closure of their school. More than one year after their arrests, one of the teachers has been sentenced after she admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old student several times.
Sherri Delle Mauldin was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 25 years of probation on Monday, May 18, according to the Union-Recorder. The crime took place at Christian school Nathanael Greene Academy, which has since closed following the scandal.
Mauldin, 61, argued during the trial that she deserved to not go to prison and claimed she molested the child because she was in a “dark place.”
However, prosecutors pushed for her to be sentenced for 18 years due to the disturbing nature of a “60-year-old adult” abusing a “15-year-old child.”
North Carolina Substitute Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex Crime With Minor
“I would be lying to you if I didn’t tell you that I was slightly disappointed by the court’s sentence — only because there were so many aggravating circumstances,” prosecutor T. Wright Barksdale told the outlet following the sentencing. “Age gap is something that was an aggravated circumstance, and the fact that it was a teacher and a student — that was an aggravating circumstance.”
Barksdale added that he felt the case was an “aggravating circumstance” because the abuse “took place over the course of a month.”
“And the fact that these criminal acts occurred in multiple locations involving multiple sexual acts — those were all aggravating circumstances,” he said. However, Barksdale did not elaborate on the exact locations he was referring to.
Mauldin was arrested just days after another teacher at the school, Bonnie Elizabeth Brown, was accused of having alleged sexual contact with the same boy.
Both Mauldin and Brown, 26, were arrested in March 2025, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Brown has pleaded not guilty to the improper sexual contact with a minor charge and has asked for a jury trial, which is scheduled to begin in June.
After both teachers were caught having inappropriate relationships with the student, the Christian school shut down in 2025.
The victim has since accused the school of failing to protect him from the teachers. “These women took advantage of their positions as my teachers,” he told 11 Alive in a statement released through his attorney, Ashley Mitchell, in March 2025. “My school did not protect me as a child.”
Mitchell added that the situation was a “classic case of predators having access to children and not much oversight.”
Before Nathanael Greene Academy shut down, the school issued a statement acknowledging the arrests and said they were cooperating with authorities amid the investigations.
North Carolina Substitute Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex Crime With Minor
“While being careful not to interfere with law enforcement’s investigation, NGA’s Administration and Board of Trustees are conducting their own investigation to determine any and all appropriate measures which need to be taken by the school,” the statement read in part, per 11 Alive. “As part of that investigation, the Board of Trustees is holding a closed session meeting on an emergency basis. NGA’s Administration and Board of Trustees will be providing further information following the emergency board meeting.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
