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A convicted middle school teacher who was charged with repeatedly raping a teenage girl has been murdered in a North Carolina prison, according to officials.

Ernest Nichols, 60, was found unresponsive inside his cell at Greene Correctional Institution in Maury on Sunday morning at around 6.50 a.m., the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections (NCDAC) said. The agency performed emergency life-saving procedures and called EMS, who pronounced the 60-year-old deceased at 7:22 a.m.

A NCDAC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Nichols was not murdered in his cell, noting the Green Correctional Institution is a minimum-security prison with dormitory-style housing.

Nichols was convicted of statutory rape in 2011 and was

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