UPDATE, FEB. 29, 5:39 P.M.: In announcing the charges filed today against school aide Nicole Ethel McMillen, the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) alleged the 41-year-old mother kept a “fun” home in Irvine's Northpark community that drew many children, and that she blew and committed other lewd acts on a 14-year-old boy while at least one of her own kids was also in the house.
Her job title with the Tustin Unified School District? “Behavioral
interventionist.”
]
The OCDA also identified the school where she worked part time with kindergarten-age children as Peter's Canyon Elementary School.
Between January and February, McMillen is accused of having sexual
contact with the boy while he was at her house to play with
his friends. According to the OCDA:
On Jan. 2, 2012, McMillen is accused of committing a lewd act by
fondling John Doe's groin area over the clothing.
On Jan. 7, 2012, McMillen is accused of committing lewd acts on John Doe
by touching his groin area over the clothing and touching his penis
directly. She is also accused of orally copulating the victim.
On Jan 15, 2012, McMillen is accused of committing lewd acts on John Doe
by touching his groin area over the clothing and touching his penis
directly.
On Jan. 21, 2012, McMillen is accused of committing lewd acts on John
Doe by touching his groin area over the clothing and touching his penis
directly on two separate occasions.
On Feb. 8, 2012, McMillen is accused of touching John Doe's penis over
and under his clothing and orally copulating the victim.
As we reported at the time of McMillen's arrest, the boy told his mother about the unlawful sexual contact on Feb. 13, and the family contacted the Irvine Police Department.
Today, McMillen was charged with four felony counts of lewd acts upon a child and two felony counts of
oral copulation of a minor under 16 years old. Conviction could bring
up to six years and three months in state prison.
Also facing lifetime registration as a sex offender, McMillen would obviously never work in a school again and be barred from county and city parks where sex offender bans have been enacted. This presumably includes Irvine, which bars sex offenders convicted of having preyed upon children.
Currently out of custody after posting $50,000 bail, McMillen is scheduled to be arraigned March 19 at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach. Meanwhile, the OCDA is searching for other possible victims. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Lou Gutierrez at 714.347.8794.
UPDATE, FEB. 23, 9:35 A.M.: Irvine Police are investigating a possible second victim of Nicole Ethel McMillen, a school aide who was arrested over the weekend for unlawful sexual or physical contact with a 14-year-old boy.
The
age and sex of the possible new victim has not been released. The hunt
is also on for other youths McMillen may have preyed upon.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Erika Hutchcraft at 949.724.7124 or email her at eh*********@ci**********.org.
ORIGINAL POST, FEB. 20, 8:57 A.M.: After a 14-year-old boy told his parents he'd been having sex with a 41-year-old Irvine woman, police in that city were contacted Saturday afternoon. By 1 a.m. Sunday, Nicole Ethel McMillen was under arrest for felony lewd conduct with a
minor.
But detectives also discovered she's a part-time teacher's aide in the Tustin Unified School District, and authorities fear there may be other underage victims.
To be clear, the 14-year-old does not attend a Tustin district school, and the crime that resulted in McMillen's arrest did not happen at a school facility but her residence in Irvine's Northpark community, according to police.
However, because the accused works around young people, police are on extra alert. Irvine Police are working with the Tustin Unified School District to ensure McMillen has no contact with young people during the ongoing invesigation, says police Lt. Julia Engen, the department spokeswoman. Anyone with information is
encouraged to contact Detective Erika Hutchcraft at 949.724.7124 or at eh*********@ci**********.org.
Following the initial report Saturday afternoon, detectives worked the case hard that rest of the day and into the evening gathering the evidence that led to McMillen's arrest, according to Engen, who says police believe there was sexual or other inappropriate physical conduct with the boy over the past six weeks. Engen would not elaborate further, saying specific details must come from the district attorney's office.
McMillen, who is not related to the boy, was booked into the Orange County Jail on $50,000 bail.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.