Katlin Janice Marie Nole

Two Del Norte County Unified School District employees along with a High Desert State Prison inmate are facing several counts of sexual abuse against a child.

Katlin Janice Marie Nole, 43, and Kathleen Mary Fuson, 60, appeared before visiting judge, Leonard Lacasse, in Del Norte County Superior Court on Tuesday. Nole’s husband, Jody Allen Nole, 49, who was transferred from High Desert State Prison in Susanville to Pelican Bay State Prison, also appeared before Lacasse on Tuesday.

Katlin Nole, a DNUSD special education instructional assistant, and Fuson, a second-grade teacher at Pine Grove Elementary School, were arrested Friday, according to the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office.

Katlin Nole and Fuson were arrested after school Friday, according to DNUSD Superintendent Jeff Harris. The allegations are not school related, according to Harris.

The three defendants were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. Though Katlin Nole said she wanted to enter a plea of not guilty, Lacasse rescheduled the arraignment to Thursday to allow the defendants to meet with attorneys.

A fourth defendant, 48-year-old Edward Bert Steele, also faces charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child in connection with this case, but has yet to be apprehended, according to Lacasse.

Kathleen Mary Fuson

Jody Allen Nole faces seven charges, including sexual intercourse or sodomy with a child 10 years old or younger, continuous sexual abuse and aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Katlin Nole is named alongside her husband in three counts of sexual intercourse or sodomy with a child 10 years old or younger , aggravated sexual assault of a child and continuous sexual abuse of a child.

Jody Allen Nole, Katlin Nole, and Fuson are charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child.

According to the court complaint, the alleged crimes took place in Humboldt and Del Norte counties between Jan. 1 2011 and Dec. 31, 2017. The victim in the case was born in 2006, according to Lacasse.

Though he continued the case to Thursday, Lacasse set bails for each of three defendants and ordered them not to have any contact with the victim. Lacasse noted that the bail amounts for each of the defendants could be adjusted up or down when he receives more information about the case.

The judge set Katlin Nole’s bail at $1 million and Fuson’s bail at $500,000. Lacasse also set Jody Nole’s bail at $2 million, though he pointed out that Jody Nole is still in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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