Hooker's Affidavit Describes Events Leading Up To Former Teacher's Sex Arrest
MODESTO (CBS13) – In an affidavit released Tuesday, Stanislaus County authorities revealed the developments that led to the arrest of a former Modesto high school teacher for sexually assaulting a former student.
Detectives from the Modesto Police Department's Special Victims Unit arrested James Christopher Hooker, 41, on Friday on one count of oral copulation after the alleged victim came forward, according to the document.
On March 29, Detective Steven Anderson of the Modesto Police Department says he received a voice mail from a 31-year-old woman claiming she had information about Hooker. He called the woman, who said she and Hooker had a relationship when she was 17, and the two had oral sex.
The woman says her relationship with Hooker began in March or April 1998 when, as a Beyer High School student, she went to a Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) conference in Irvine. Hooker went along as an advisor for another school. After the woman graduated, she went to another FBLA conference in Orlando, Florida with Hooker and a Davis High School graduate.
After the conference, the woman said she and Hooker began instant messaging and emailing each other and struck up a romantic relationship. She wouldn't turn 18 until February 1999. During the summer of 1998, she said she visited Hooker at Modesto High School several times where he was teaching summer school.
She claims the two "made out" (which involved kissing) several times while on campus. She said they also made out on Davis High School's campus, where she was helping Hooker set up a student store.
When questioned by investigators, the woman said Hooker knew she was under age, stating "they had discussed her age and made jokes about it."
In August 1998, she said she went to Hooker's mother's house near Turlock where Hooker performed oral sex on her. He had been living with his wife and young child in Fresno but had just taken a job in Modesto and was staying at his mother's home.
The affidavit also alleges that while at a drive-in, they "discussed having sexual intercourse, however they did not have a condom."
The alleged victim said the relationship lasted through the summer and ended two weeks before she went to college.
Four years later, the woman says Hooker sent an email titled "Memories" apologizing for the stress he caused during what he called " a distant summer."
Detectives initially began to investigate Hooker after the mother of an Enochs High School student reported an alleged inappropriate relationship between her 18-year-old daughter, Jordan Powers, and Hooker. Hooker taught business classes at the school before he resigned when their relationship came to light in February.
Hooker's bail was set at $50,000, which he paid shortly after midnight on Saturday.
