Former teacher at Berkeley school accused of sex crimes against minor
A teacher at a high school in Berkeley has been charged with sex crimes against a minor after his employer and the victim's family went to police last week.
Berkeley police arrested 49-year-old Jason Hoopes on Wednesday. He was charged Thursday with unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation with a minor, arranging a sexual meeting with a minor, and aggravating circumstances, according to jail records.
Hoopes was a teacher at Bayhill High School. The school's website says it "specializes in serving students in grades 7-12 with diagnosed learning disabilities, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD/ADD, auditory/visual processing disorders, and executive functioning challenges."
Police said they began investigating after concerns were raised by those close to the victim and the victim's family regarding Hoopes' interactions with the victim.
The school released a statement calling the charges "shocking and devastating for our entire school community."
The school said it initially made a mandated report about inappropriate text messages between Hoopes and a student and has since fired Hoopes.
"When Mr. Hoopes was hired, he cleared background checks, which included FBI fingerprinting," Bayhill said in the statement. "Healthy relationships between students and employees and the emotional and physical well-being of the children in our community are fundamental to what we stand for at Bayhill. Conduct by faculty or other employees that violates our trust in them will not be tolerated."
Hoopes, who remains in custody in Santa Rita Jail, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning.
Berkeley police are encouraging anyone with information about the case or others to call (510) 981-5735.
