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View Full Version : Update: Former student, high school teacher back together again


catlover79
04-07-2012, 01:53 PM
http://abcnews.go.com/US/california-student-jordan-powers-relationship-teacher-moves-arrest/story?id=16093104


By ALYSSA NEWCOMB (@alyssanewcomb)

April 7, 2012

A California student who left school, her family and her friends to live with her teacher boyfriend has ended the relationship after the teacher was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting another girl 14 years ago.

"He called me from jail and yes, I told him that we're done," Jordan Powers, 18, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. "I lost everything for this guy. I lost my senior year. I gave up all my friends at high school because they didn't agree with me."

James Hooker, 41, was arrested in Modesto, Calif., on Friday after police discovered he had an an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student in 1998.

Hooker has been under investigation for his involvement with Powers, his former business class student, with whom he appeared on national TV programs earlier this year to profess his love.

Hooker was charged with one count of oral copulation with a minor and is in jail, according to a statement from Modesto police.

"He told me that he met her online and he hung out with her just as friends and then he went to her house and she came out of the bathroom naked and he only touched her boobs and her legs," Powers said. "He was freaked out so he left and went home. He said nothing else happened, but all of that was a lie."

Despite the charges, Powers said nothing happened romantically between her and Hooker prior to her 18th birthday.

The teen said she believed the woman came forward now to help her see the truth about Hooker and rescue her from the relationship.

"My heart dropped. I felt betrayed. I just have a gut feeling there are other girls," Jordan Powers said.

Her mother, Tammie Powers, has publicly tried to end the romance from the beginning and expressed relief at Hooker's arrest.

"It's my contention all along that he used authority and that he's a predator," she said.

But a reconciliation between mother and daughter isn't happening just yet.

Jordan Powers said she is staying with a family friend in another state while she recovers from her heartbreak.

"How could he lie to me for all these months and look me in the eye and tell me he loves me?" she said. "I don't know how someone could have such a cold heart."

catlover79
04-18-2012, 12:56 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/report-former-student-teacher-back-together-again-010832797.html

The California teen who made national headlines when she and her high school teacher moved in together told a local television station that the two are back together.

Jordan Powers, 18, told a reporter for Sacramento TV station CBS13 that she and James Hooker, 41, are a couple again. The interview was conducted on the steps of Hooker's apartment through a screen door in Modesto.

In an ABC news interview two weeks ago, Powers said she had called off the relationship with Hooker after allegations that he sexually abused another student more than a decade ago. Powers packed her bags and moved to Ohio with her mom.

Tammie Powers, mother, told the Modesto Bee that she thought the two were seeing each other again. After they moved away, Hooker called Jordan "relentlessly," she said.

"She left on her own. She hired a cab and booked her own flight," Tammie Powers said.

"It is awful," she said. "This is what pedophiles, predators do. They isolate them from family."

Neighbors say Powers moved back in recently.

Hooker was arrested on April 6 for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student he allegedly met at a high school conference in 1998. He entered a not guilty plea and remains out on bail.

After the break-up, Powers said Hooker had lied about the affair and she had "lost everything for this guy" in the ABC interview.

"I lost my senior year. I gave up all my friends at high school because they didn't agree with me," she said.

In February, Hooker quit his job at James Enochs High School and left his wife and three children to be with Powers. She dropped out of high school. The two told national talk shows that they didn't have a sexual relationship until she turned 18. That point is under investigation.

retrofan05
04-18-2012, 03:19 PM
This might sound extreme, but I honestly think 18 is too young to be considered a legal adult. Whoever decided on that particular age clearly wasn't taking into account an individual's cognitive development. As I continue to hear about this sickening story, it is clear to me that Jordan is not mature enough cognitively to be able to rationalize the seriousness of the situation she is in. As an educator, Hooker should recognize that, but instead he is taking advantage of her vulnerability and using it to his advantage. IMO, children should be at least 21 (if not older) before they are considered legal adults.

catlover79
04-18-2012, 03:26 PM
I agree - I've also always thought that the voting age should be 21.

retrofan05
04-18-2012, 04:54 PM
I agree - I've also always thought that the voting age should be 21.

I would agree with that but only if the age to join the military is raised to 21 as well.

catlover79
04-18-2012, 05:18 PM
How did the teacher lure her back? Did he buy her a new bell for her tricycle? Buy her a Happy Meal?

MickeyMac
04-19-2012, 10:02 PM
puke:

shotzette
04-19-2012, 11:28 PM
$5 says there is a reality show in this lucky couple's future, LOL! :rolleyes:

catlover79
04-19-2012, 11:38 PM
$5 says there is a reality show in this lucky couple's future, LOL! :rolleyes:
SHHHHHH!!! Don't give them any ideas!!!! :crazy: