A former California teacher who made national headlines when he left
his job and family to move in with an 18-year-old student was arrested
Friday on suspicion of sexually abusing a different student more than a
decade ago, police said.Christopher Hooker, 41, was arrested at
his home and booked in Stanislaus County Jail on one count of oral
copulation with a minor.
Police said the abuse occurred with a
17-year-old girl in 1998 when Hooker was a teacher at Davis High School
in Modesto. The girl was a student at a different school, police said.
In
a statement, police said Hooker befriended the 17-year-old. The
department did not immediately return a call seeking clarification of
how the two met.
Hooker appeared in court Friday. A judge entered
a not guilty plea on his behalf, set his bail at $50,000 and assigned
him a public defender.Hooker requested that his bail amount be reduced, and the judge set a hearing for Tuesday to consider the matter.
Police
said the investigation started after Hooker announced his relationship
in February with Jordan Powers, whom he taught at Enochs High School in
Modesto.
Hooker has three children, including one who was a junior at Enochs.
The underage victim was discovered in the course of that investigation, police said.
Appearing
on numerous national talk shows and in news interviews, Hooker and
Powers maintained they didn't have a sexual relationship until she
turned 18, but police are still investigating whether there was
inappropriate contact before that.
In interviews for the "Dr.
Phil" show and ABC's "Good Morning America," the couple can be seen
holding hands and exchanging smiles.
Powers' mother, Tammie, confronted the couple on "Dr. Phil" and accused Hooker of brainwashing her daughter.
The
couple maintains that, while they met when Jordan was 14, their
relationship did not become physical until she was of age, making it
permissible under current laws. California's age of consent is 18.
The
Modesto Bee reported that Tammie Powers sent a text message to one of
the newspaper's reporters Friday saying she and her daughter were
catching a flight to an undisclosed location.
In response to the
relationship between Hooker and Jordan Powers, a state lawmaker from
Modesto last week proposed legislation that would ban student-teacher
relationships regardless of age, even if the student is 18, and strip
school employees of their pensions and retiree health care if they are
convicted.
Republican Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen said her bill
would prevent teachers from grooming students for relationships once
they became adults. The bill would also forbid suggestive communication
such as sexual text messages.