A Texas teacher accused of cutting herself with a razor and falsely claiming a student stabbed her has pleaded not guilty after the alleged hoax triggered a terrifying school lockdown and a massive police response.
Nicole Truelove, 53, is accused of setting off panic at Splendora High School, located northeast of Houston, after authorities say she reported that she had been attacked by a student.
The incident happened around 8:45 a.m. on a Thursday morning when a panic alarm was activated inside the school. The alarm immediately sent the campus into lockdown and brought more than 80 law enforcement officers rushing to the scene.
Students and teachers were forced to react as if an active threat was unfolding.
One student, Kelly Garcia, told KHOU 11 that the fear inside the school was overwhelming.
“I called my mom, and she started crying,” Garcia said. “Just to see all the kids running the opposite way and the teachers yelling at all of us to get into a room.”
Another parent, Casey Shaw, said her child was grabbed by a teacher, pulled into a classroom and told to stand in a corner with the lights off.
At first, the school community believed a teacher had been stabbed by a student.
But investigators later said that was not true.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Assistant Chief of Operations Rick Bass said authorities determined there was no student attack.
“During the investigation, it was determined that there was no assault on a teacher that was committed by a student,” Bass said, according to KHOU 11. “The injuries sustained to the teacher were self-inflicted. Evidence supports that this was a hoax.”
Investigators said a blade was recovered during the investigation. Local reports said Truelove was accused of injuring herself with a razor.
Authorities said no students were injured, and there was no threat to the public.
Truelove was charged with tampering with evidence and making a false report that induced an emergency response. Her bond was set at $5,000 for the false report charge and $15,000 for the tampering charge, for a total of $20,000.
She was not hospitalized after the incident, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Online court records show Truelove is due back in court for a June 4 status hearing.
Her attorney, Douglas W. Atkinson, said she denies the accusations and has entered a not guilty plea.
“We on behalf of Nicole Truelove deny the allegations of Tampering with Evidence and False Report Inducing Emergency Response,” the statement read. “Ms. Truelove has entered a plea of Not Guilty, and under Texas law is presumed innocent. She maintains her innocence and looks forward to the opportunity to defend herself in the appropriate legal process.”
Splendora ISD Superintendent Dustin Bromley previously said Truelove was a first-year teacher at the school and had no prior disciplinary record with the district. He also praised staff and students for following lockdown procedures during the frightening incident.
“This is a unique situation, being that it was self-inflicted,” Bromley said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I’m very proud of my administrators, teachers and students because lockdown situations are hard and it’s heavy.”
Court records and local reports also show Truelove was previously involved in litigation connected to a 2017 incident while working as a teacher in a Texas prison. She alleged she had been sexually assaulted by an inmate. The inmate was later acquitted of aggravated sexual assault but convicted of retaliation and assault on a public servant, according to a Texas appellate opinion.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Truelove’s lawsuit was later settled and that a later complaint filed by the inmate against her was withdrawn.
Authorities have not publicly revealed a motive in the Splendora High School case.
The investigation remains ongoing, and Truelove is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
