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Nancy Grace
California Teacher Leaves Wife for 18-Year-Old Student
Aired March 01, 2012 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, California. A 41- year-old California high school teacher, married, father of three, dumps his wife to start a new life with the girl student he met when she was just 14.
Bombshell tonight. As 8,000 text messages surface between the two, along with hotel receipts and damning photos, tonight, why isn`t he behind bars?
Exclusive tonight, after taking to FaceBook, calling the teacher, quote, "a perverted child molester" and "a twisted predator," the girl`s mother is with us live and taking your calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Creeps me out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Outraged.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, he`s more than just...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don`t seduce your student, period.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... a lover...
-- a lover...
-- a lover...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They first met when Powers was a high school freshman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it`s a normal relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The uproar.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly when their relationship became physical.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over a student/teacher affair in California.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is now the center of a police investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: James Hooker is 41.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s -- that`s pursuit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James Hooker has resigned his teaching job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn`t believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And left his wife and kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was just a student.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You didn`t think twice about it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would have the audacity to come in...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same week that he moved into an apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... to a child`s home, his student, and pack (ph) her room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tammie Powers went to the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we -- I mean, we are sharing a life.
GRACE: Eight thousand text messages, photos her sitting in his lap.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that they`re just digging for something that wasn`t there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they can show that there was any kind of physical relationship before the age of 18.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s right, anything. They can charge...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening, I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. California, a 41-year-old California high school teacher, married father of three, dumps his wife to start a new life with the girl student he met when she was just 14. Eight thousand text messages between the two surface, along with hotel receipts and damning photos. So tonight, why isn`t he behind bars?
We are taking your calls. Straight out to Alexis Tereszcuk joining us there in California, senior reporter, Radaronline.com. Am I wrong? Did I hear 8,000 text messages the mother of this girl finds on her phone?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: You are exactly right. That is how many text messages she found. And you ask, why is he not in jail? He`s saying he`s done nothing wrong. He says that he did not start a romantic relationship with this girl until she was 18 years old, except he`s known her since she was a freshman. He`s been her teacher. And friends have pictures of her sitting on his lap when she younger than 18.
GRACE: And as of right now, Alexis, he is out of the school and apparently resigned. What I don`t understand is why a case has not been built to put him behind bars. He apparently has thrown away a teaching career making almost $150,000 a year. Isn`t it true that not only did he teach, but he did several clubs and he got extra money for that, was the guidance counselor on, like, the future business people of America, a whole lot of clubs. And this little girl apparently was in all of his clubs, right?
TERESZCUK: You are exactly right. That`s right. He had a base salary, and then for each club that he taught, he made about $28,000 more. She was a member of all them.
He has left behind a wife, three children, a daughter who is 17, just one year younger than this girl that he`s shacking up with now.
GRACE: Clark Goldband, the other thing is that the mom says she tried to do everything, quote, "right." She wouldn`t even let the girl go to the mall by herself. She kept very close track of her, and not in a draconian way, in a loving way.
She said the girl was very obedient, was kind, kept a beautiful room, did everything she was asked to do by her mother. And she looked at all the obvious warning signs, but she never thought to look at the girl`s school teacher.
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: No, she didn`t, Nancy. But what the mom did notice was that she says her daughter`s behavior all of a sudden started to change. She became very restless and upset, and that was the first warning sign something was wrong.
GRACE: Joining me right now and taking your calls, joining us exclusively tonight is the mom, the mom of the little girl this teacher met when she was just 14 years old. Joining me is Tammie Powers. Thank you for being with us.
TAMMIE POWERS, MOTHER OF STUDENT (via telephone): Oh, thank you.
GRACE: Ms. Powers, I`ve listened to what you had to say. I`ve read your story. And I cannot imagine -- I`ve got twins age 4. If my little girl or boy, I find out, has 8,000 text messages from the teacher -- but had you no idea what was going on! In fact, the other day, you tried to go over there, and you were told that you would get thrown out by the sheriff, that you didn`t have the right to be there! What happened?
POWERS: Yes, Nancy, I was almost arrested. When he came into my home and packed up my child, I went over to the residence that he has just rented. And the police came, and I was told that I was going to be arrested for trespassing and disturbing the peace when I wanted to confront him. And he wouldn`t come outside of the residence.
GRACE: You know what? You`re a stronger woman than me, Tammie Powers, because I would have held my hands up and said, Cuff me, people! I want to see my daughter.
You know, when you first confronted your daughter about all of this, what did she say, deny a sex relationship?
POWERS: Oh, absolutely. They both have contended initially that it was completely platonic -- although inappropriate, platonic. He told police there`s been no impropriety, no sexual relationship. And he lied.
GRACE: You know, to put a case together like this, police are going to have to comb through the evidence. They`re going to have to look at all 8,000 of those text messages. And what`s so crazy, Tammie Powers, those text messages and phone calls would start at 6:00 o`clock in the morning, as the two were getting ready to go to school, and then continue all day and into the night.
They`ve got to read the content of those messages. There`s photos of your daughter sitting in this man`s lap. She was just 14 when she met him.
What, if anything, has he said to you?
POWERS: He hasn`t personally commented to me after the initial contact, and I let him know, I`m aware of something. Would you mind explaining this? He left a message and said, We have a situation, I`d like to meet with you. At that point, Nancy, I knew. I knew, and I went to detectives and said, We have a problem here.
GRACE: A situation. That`s what he called it. Now, of course, your daughter has obviously been brainwashed by her teacher, a person that you and she trusted. So she`s not in her right mind right now. She`s still just a little girl. She`s 18 years old and she is completely brainwashed against you. You understand that, right?
POWERS: Oh, absolutely.
GRACE: What evidence do you have, except for common sense, of course -- I`m sure a jury would side with you, Ms. Powers. But what evidence is there that we can show that there`s a sex relationship? Aren`t there hotel receipts?
POWERS: There are hotel receipts. However, those are after she turned 18. He used his Modesto city school e-mail address, his work address, to book those hotel rooms for he and the student.
So at this point, we have texting a minor back and forth. I am trying to, as a result of this, get other evidence. I believe there was a sexual relationship. You don`t coincidentally, the day after she turns 18, just blatantly call this student, text her, have this epiphany that you want to be with her. This is grooming, and this is pursuit.
GRACE: Well, another thing, Tammie Powers. If all of this isn`t true -- I mean, on line, you`ve come out and point-blank called him a pervert. If that`s not true, then he hasn`t tried to stop you, he hasn`t had a restraining order to ask you to stop saying this on line. He hasn`t sued you for slander or libel. You know why? You know that the truth is a complete defense under the law to slander and libel.
So if all of these things that people are saying are not true, why isn`t he suing?
POWERS: Because he lied. It`s a lie. He knows this is true. And he knows that I`m adamant. I`m going to find the truth and get justice.
GRACE: Tammy, another thing. They would have four-hour-a-night phone calls? What -- what -- what -- four hours a night? Where would she be on the phone for four hours?
POWERS: Yes, it was off and on for the four hours, though, Nancy. But she would have -- he would call my home phone, from what I understand. She has maintained a boyfriend this whole time. So I`m assuming that she`s talking to her boyfriend on the phone when she`s in her bed watching TV, and it was indeed this 41-year-old man.
GRACE: Oh! So you thought she had, like, a regular little teenage boyfriend, right?
POWERS: She`s had the same boyfriend, absolutely.
GRACE: And he`s her age?
POWERS: Yes, he`s her age. And I had no idea that James Hooker was talking to her in this capacity.
GRACE: Well, what is the boyfriend saying? Does he have any light to shed on it?
POWERS: Oh, I think he`s horrified and disgusted, and I feel really sorry for him, as well as James Hooker`s family.
GRACE: Joining us in a primetime exclusive tonight, the mother of the girl who met her teacher at a public school in California, when she was just 14 years old. Eight thousand text messages later, now she is living with him. And this man is not behind bars.
She is taking your calls. Out to Terri in Florida. Hi, Terri. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, my question is, why was -- I still don`t understand, why would a girl her age want to be with someone as old as her grandpa? I was in school when we had two cases at my local high school in Florida. And the only thing that I can think of is -- do you think it was power?
GRACE: You know, I`m going to go to two specialists on this, not only Dr. Bethany Marshall, but joining me tonight is Owen Lafave, the ex-husband of Debra Beasley, convicted of sex with a 14-year-old. He lived through this.
Owen, thank you for being with us. What do these children see in an older teacher?
OWEN LAFAVE, DEBRA LAFAVE`S EX-HUSBAND: You know, and clearly in this case, he was substantially older. He was her teacher. He had a tremendous amount access in school and then after school.
But you know, I think there is a clear violation of ethical boundaries here. He was in a position of power, of influence. I think there probably is a certain element of grooming.
And what I`d be interested to hear, too, is I understand that Jordan, the victim -- her father died when she was really young, so maybe she was looking for a father figure in her life and he took advantage of that.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Eleanor Odom, Peter Odom, Renee Rockwell. All right, Peter Odom, give me your best defense.
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No defense needed. No crime committed, Nancy. Much as you want to accuse these people of something, both parties say nothing happened. So there`s really nothing to say in defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My best friend. I mean, he`s more than just a lover. I mean, of course, they`re going to be curious. But I know for a fact that there`s nothing. People don`t agree because of the age difference and because he was a teacher and I was a student. But I think it`s a normal relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the right is 41-year-old James Hooker. On the left is his girlfriend, 18-year-old Jordan Powers. The high school senior used to be a student in Hooker`s class. During a short phone interview, Hooker tells CBS 13 he started dating Powers after she turned 18. The teen`s mother believes the inappropriate relationship started when her daughter was under age. Students at the Enochs High have heard the same thing.
POWERS: James Hooker has been texting Jordan over the summer. I do have concrete proof of that. There were text messages back and forth -- as a minor. On the first day of school, there was a phone call. I do have proof of that. That`s -- that`s pursuit, in my opinion, with some type of intent. There`s no summer class. There`s no reason they should have been texting back and forth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ve learned Hooker recently left his wife and children, one almost the same age as Powers, and moved into an apartment with his teen lover. The teacher-student romance spurred controversy, and Hooker resigned from his position as a high school business teacher and club leader last week after being placed on administrative leave while the school district and Modesto police investigate the relationship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let`s get right to the uproar over a student- teacher affair in California.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a teacher and I was a student.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty-one James Hooker has known Jordan Powers since her freshman year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say it`s true love.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, he`s more than just a lover.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: James Hooker has been texting Jordan over the summer. There were text messages back and forth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The two exchanged 8,000 text messages.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she was groomed for this. I think that he was in pursuit of this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real shock came last week, when Hooker arrived at her house while she was away to move Jordan`s things out of her bedroom.
POWERS: I couldn`t believe that he would have the audacity to come into a child`s home, his student, and pack her room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything the police can do about (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: It`s all going to be in the text messages, the receipts, the hotel -- look, there are hotel receipts, people! What do you think they did, their homework?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. And joining me exclusively tonight, Tammie Powers. This is the student`s mother. You know, Tammie, I want to thank you for being with us because it`s generally believed that when you drop your children at school or you watch them get on the school bus, everything`s OK.
Until 3:00 o`clock that day you can rest easy. Your children are OK. You don`t have to worry who they`re with, what they`re doing, do they see somebody with drugs or alcohol, are they in a car going too fast? You don`t have to worry. Everything`s fine. They`re at school.
Well, your worst nightmare has come true. And I want to know, Tammie, why you are convinced your daughter, who met this teacher, her teacher, when she was 14 years old -- why you are convinced that she was sexually abused by him?
POWERS: Well, I don`t think that he just had this epiphany after she was 18. I don`t think the timeline matches up. I think there`s no reason to contact a minor over the summer break. He had no reason to have any conversation with her. It`s just too coincidental.
GRACE: When you have tried to reach her, Tammie, what does she say?
POWERS: She said that she has to protect him. And I find that so odd, that she`s convincingly telling me that she needs to protect this person.
GRACE: Oh! To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers." Dr. Bethany, the girl obviously feels she has to lie to protect her much, much older lover, who met her when she was just 14. Why?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, in order to understand why a perpetrator like this would gain foothold in a child`s life, it`s important to understand the role of the paranoia that the child comes to feel.
This perpetrator made her feel she was special. Then he seduced her. Then he made her feel that he owned her, and that if she betrayed him, he would be mad and everyone else would be mad, too. And paranoia kept her hooked in.
GRACE: Her teacher meets her when she`s just 14. Tonight, why isn`t he behind bars?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A warning for other parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clearly, he has a disconnect and bad judgment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty-one-year-old James Hooker has known Jordan Powers since her freshman year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t regret anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jordan turned 18.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was just a student.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say their feelings grew slowly.
POWERS: There were text messages back and forth, as a minor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, he`s more than just a lover.
POWERS: That`s pursuit, in my opinion, some type of intent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They as a couple are just following their hearts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think I look at her as a student at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Yes, that`s putting it mildly. He didn`t look at her as a student at all. As a matter of fact, he met his student when she was just 14. And tonight, her mother is convinced the sex relationship started long before these four years have passed.
We are taking your calls. Out to Kay in Tennessee. Hi, Kay. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Thanks for taking my question. You`re great. First of all, I`ve got a comment and then a question.
GRACE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he`s a dirty old man. But was he ever a respectable man? It says he had a wife and three children.
GRACE: OK, I don`t understand. Your question is, did he have a wife and three children?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, was he ever a respected man? Because now he`s not.
GRACE: Oh! Let me tell you something. Yes, he was highly respected.
To Michael Board, WOAI reporter. Michael, this -- this guy was well respected within the school and within the school system. Explain.
MICHAEL BOARD, WOAI: Yes, he had the trust of the school system. He was allowed to be part of all these clubs. He made a lot of money being the leader of all these different clubs. The district trusted him enough that they said, We will allow you to spend extra time with these students.
Nancy, he faces some very serious charges. And he knows what he did was wrong. He -- as soon as this investigation started, as soon as the school district came to him and started asking questions, he resigned.
Now, Nancy, I know if I was the -- you know, if someone came to me and made these allegations against me, I would be shouting from the mountaintops. I`d say, No, I didn`t do it. There`s nothing wrong here. But this guy...
GRACE: Well, you know what? Michael Board, you`re dead on because, think about it, if somebody comes and asks me about my relationship with my husband, I don`t go, I quit my job, and run out the door, all right? That doesn`t make sense, Michael Board. You just pointed out a very good point.
Unleash the lawyers, Eleanor Odom, Renee Rockwell, Peter Odom. Eleanor Odom, your expertise is crimes on children. Isn`t it true, Eleanor, the majority of the time the child victims feel they must cover up for the person that is abusing them?
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Oh, definitely, Nancy. And look, this case is all about power and control. Who had the power? The teacher did. Who did he have control over? The student. And unfortunately, these cases are not unique. I prosecute them all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty-one-year-old James Hooker has known Jordan Powers since her freshman year. Her mother believes that Hooker has committed a crime.
POWERS: James Hooker has been texting Jordan over the summer. There were text messages back and forth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAN POWERS, STUDENT: My best friend.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The uproar over a student/teacher affair in California.
J. POWERS: I mean, he`s more than just a lover.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Forty-one-year-old James Hooker has known Jordan Powers since her freshman year.
JAMES HOOKER, TEACHER: She wasn`t just a student. She was --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You didn`t think twice about her?
HOOKER: There was no special attraction. We were very, very much teacher-student role.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hooker has resigned his teaching position and left his wife and kids, including a 17-year-old daughter at the same school.
TAMMIE POWERS, MOM OF TEEN STUDENT NOW LIVING WITH 41-YEAR-OLD TEACHER: He`s a master manipulator. He thinks he`s above reproach.
DAN ABRAMS, ABC NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Calling him a molester and all these --
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Pervert, molester.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sexual predator.
ABRAMS: Yes. Yes.
GRACE: Then sue if it`s not true.
J. POWERS: I think that they`re just digging for something that wasn`t there. I mean, of course, they`re going to be curious, but I know for a fact there`s nothing.
HOOKER: I don`t think I look at her as a student at all. I think we -- I mean, we are sharing a life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. You`re hearing the teacher, the public high schoolteacher that`s 41 years old, meets a 14-year-old girl. Eight thousand text messages later, now he has taken her from her home against her mother`s wishes. Why is he not behind bars?
We are taking your calls. I want to go back to Tammie Powers, the mother of the girl. During all of this time that passed, you never had a suspicion that anything wrong was going on. Why?
T. POWERS: No, there was no indication, she had a boyfriend, she had a job, she had a normal teenage life. He portrayed himself as a churchgoing family man. I had no inclination at all.
GRACE: Tell me how she changed since she has met up with this guy.
T. POWERS: Well, she started having panic attacks at her job. And they had to call 911. And I had to go get her and she was hyperventilating. So I took her to the doctor, and I thought it was anxiety. And they -- she was diagnosed and put on a prescription. And now in retrospect I think it was due to the stress, the lies.
GRACE: What kind of a job did she have, Tammie?
T. POWERS: She worked as a hostess at a local restaurant.
GRACE: So she was in school, making good grades, working as a hostess, being what you thought to be the perfect daughter, everything was fine. When you started finding all of these text messages what did they say?
T. POWERS: Well, I didn`t have the content, I only have the numbers back and forth. And I wasn`t sure that it was his phone number. So I had to text to verify, this is Jordan`s mother, I have excessive texting and phone calls, would you like to explain them?
GRACE: And what did he say?
T. POWERS: He left a message on my home machine and it said, this is James, and I would like to meet you, and we can discuss our situation. And at that point I knew something was wrong.
GRACE: To Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert, joining us out of Raleigh, North Carolina. If anybody can get to the bottom of this, it`s Levitan.
Ben, how do we get the text context on these 8,000 messages?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Well, Nancy, the problem is - -
GRACE: Oh, no, I don`t like it when you start off saying the problem is.
LEVITAN: I`m sorry, let me try again. Nancy, we can get these -- the phone companies store these messages for two weeks. But likely they`re stored on your personal phone for as long as you want. The photos will be stored there. But here`s the real question, these are 8,000 text messages. If we`re to believe Mr. Hooker that he didn`t start texting until she turned 18, that means they would have had to exchange 60 messages per day.
Now, let`s look at the fact that maybe they started texting when she turned 14. That would be five messages a day -- per day. I think the truth is somewhere between those two, and they clearly started this relationship --
GRACE: Ben Levitan, I don`t like what I`m hearing from you.
LEVITAN: OK.
GRACE: Let me just get my mind wrapped around this. Are you telling me that there`s no way, no form of modern technology that can retrieve the content of those text messages?
LEVITAN: That`s right, Nancy. These messages are only kept by the phone company for two weeks. The fact that the messages were sent are kept for up to seven years.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa. What did you say about seven years?
LEVITAN: The fact that the messages were sent, the time the messages were sent and received are kept for up to seven years.
GRACE: OK, you know what, Levitan, you`ve dealt me a blow, but I`m not giving up. Back to Tammie Powers.
Tammie, what about e-mails?
T. POWERS: Yes, there were some e-mails. He had sent some e-mails to her from his city school e-mail address. I`m not privy to that information, though. But there were some e-mails, again, the detectives are investigating every lead.
GRACE: OK. All right, you`re giving me a little hope here.
Ben Levitan, what about e-mail content?
LEVITAN: E-mail is essentially kept for only a very short period of time. And the only place -- it`s expected the phone company that you find the phone company that you are going to store those e-mails. Unless we can get them from his phone or her phone.
GRACE: What about the actual computers, e-mails from computers?
LEVITAN: Yes, they can be forensically taken off of the phones or the computers.
GRACE: So the content of actual e-mails as opposed to text messages can be lifted off what, the hard drive of the computer?
LEVITAN: Exactly.
GRACE: Even though you delete it?
LEVITAN: A substantial part of them can be, but if this has gone on for four years, many probably have been overwritten and we can`t forensically --
GRACE: OK. But here`s the thing, back to the lawyers, Eleanor Odom, Peter Odom, Renee Rockwell.
Renee, all four of us have been around the block in the courtroom. We`ve all tried more cases than we can even count.
Renee, take off your defense hat just for a minute, all right? You`ve got plenty of little nieces and nephews. I can`t even count them all, all right? Let`s talk about these e-mail messages, the law in California is, under 18, you`re considered a minor, so if there`s just one e-mail before she was 18 talking about their sex life, the state`s got a case.
Would you agree or disagree, Renee?
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I would agree with that, or a picture under -- of somebody`s genitalia under 18, there`s a case.
GRACE: All right. Eleanor Odom, what about harmful exposure with a minor, contributing to the ill-treatment of a minor? What about that charge, Eleanor?
ELEANOR ODOM, FELONY PROSECUTOR, DEATH PENALTY QUALIFIED: You could you have something like that, Nancy, or enticing. If the e-mail shows some type of enticing or text, you know, come over to my house, I want to hang out with you, I want to, you know, have sex with you. We`ll wait until you`re 18, but it`s still enticing if you`re using that type of language. So I think something like that or contributing to the either delinquency of a minor or the deprivation of a minor.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I want to see Peter Odom. Peter --
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I want to see you too, Nancy.
GRACE: Peter, you have a beautiful young daughter, don`t you?
P. ODOM: I do.
GRACE: Yes. Who`s just gotten out of high school, hasn`t she?
P. ODOM: She`s 19.
GRACE: Yes. If you found out her male teacher had been barraging her with literally thousands of e-mails since age 14, would you be concerned?
P. ODOM: I would consider it a highly inappropriate relationship for my 19-year-old daughter as this is a highly inappropriate relationship, in my opinion --
GRACE: No, I`m asking you about when it started. You know where I`m going, Peter Odom.
P. ODOM: Nancy --
GRACE: Look, look, look. You don`t have a dog in the fight, just tell me the truth just this one time. You know the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.
P. ODOM: Nancy, I will always tell you the truth, and here`s the truth. This is an accusation in search of evidence. They both state that nothing happened until she was 18. Will you consider the possibility that they knew that they`d be in trouble if they did something before 18, and so they waited? That`s what it looks like happened.
GRACE: To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers." Will the girl ever tell the truth?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": I think she will. Because this reminds me of victims of pedophile priests, where they started with these boys either prepubescent or pubescent. Groomed them throughout high school but at some cases these priests dominated these young men well into their adult life until their 30s and 40s they finally caved or terrified and told.
GRACE: Everyone, quick break.
The family album is back, showcasing your photos from iReport. North Carolina and Texas friends, the Chesleys. Mom Susan, a nurse for 25 years, here with son, Corbin, army specialist who served in Iraq, now stationed Ft. Hood. He dreams of working for the FBI.
What a beautiful shot.
Please share your photos with us through iReport family album, go to hlnTV.com/Nancygrace and click on "Nancy`s Family Album."
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This creeps me out.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Outraged.
J. POWERS: I mean he`s more than just --
T. POWERS: You don`t seduce your student, period.
J. POWERS: A lover. A lover. A lover.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They first met when Powers was a high school freshman.
J. POWERS: I think it`s a normal relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The uproar --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Exactly when their relationship became physical --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- over a student-teacher affair in California.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- is now the center of a police investigation. James Hooker is 41.
T. POWERS: That`s pursuit.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: James Hooker has resigned his teaching job.
T. POWERS: I couldn`t believe that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Then left his wife and kids.
HOOKER: She wasn`t just a student.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You didn`t think twice about it?
T. POWERS: He would have the audacity to come in --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The same week that he moved into an apartment.
T. POWERS: To a child`s home, his student, and pack her room.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tammie Powers went to the police.
HOOKER: I think we -- I mean we are sharing a life.
GRACE: Eight thousand text messages, photos of her sitting in his lap.
J. POWERS: I think that they`re just digging for something that wasn`t there.
ABRAMS: If they can show that there was any kind of physical relationship before the age of 18.
GRACE: One day.
ABRAMS: That`s right. Anything, they can charge --
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GRACE: We are back and taking your calls. I want to go back to Owen Lafave, the former husband of Debra Beasley, convicted of sex with a 14- year-old student and producer of "After School."
Owen, thank you for being with us. I`m hearing in Tammie Powers -- and Tammie, you`re with me, jump in when you want to with Owen, describing just her shock when she realized what has been happening during this time period. When she thought everything was just fine.
And Owen, I mean, you know me -- my two children, to think that you do everything you can to protect them and take care of them. And this is what happens at school? You got it on the other end. Your wife, your bride, you hadn`t even been married that long. You find out has been molesting a little boy at school. When you first realized what had happened, could you even believe it?
OWEN LAFAVE, EX-HUSBAND OF DEBRA LAFAVE, WHO WAS CONVICTED OF SEX WITH 14-YEAR-OLD, PRODUCER, "AFTER SCHOOL": At first, of course, you don`t want to. But once the reality of the situation set in, it`s just -- it was shocking. It was extremely embarrassing. And just quite frankly crushing. And you know, my heart goes out to, of course, the victim who apparently doesn`t realize she`s a victim. And Tammie, you know, the bigger picture is, too, is this man`s family, his wife and the children, his children are going to be severely impacted by this, it`s very sad all around.
GRACE: You know what, Owen, you`re bringing up his wife and children.
To Tammie Powers, I`m just trying to even take in how you must have reacted when you realized what happened. What happened -- I want to hear what you felt when you realized what you believe had happened.
T. POWERS: Well, initially it was just disbelief. I didn`t believe that there was an inappropriate relationship. I didn`t find out until actually last week right before he came and packed her up, that there indeed was a sexual relationship. They were still contending it was platonic.
GRACE: You know, Tammy, maybe I`m just a big wimp, but my little boy told me that somebody hit him on the playground and he could hardly even look up at me when he said it. He was looking down. And you know I tried to do all the right things. What did you feel when you realized your little girl has likely been having full-blown sex with a 41-year-old high schoolteacher? And there`s -- you apparently can`t do anything about it.
T. POWERS: Well, that`s right. I felt disgust, but now I know this man puts on mock trials at school. This is what he does, so he feels he`s above reproach. He feels legally he`s won. And by the way, he`s still applying at schools. His credentials are not revoked. And he just applied at a local college and brought her there as well for her application. He could replicate the same scenario, student-teacher.
GRACE: Dear lord in heaven. So he`s applied to teach at colleges and she`s applying to go to the same college. What have you handed over to police? What were they interested in?
T. POWERS: Some of it I`m not at liberty to discuss.
GRACE: Yes.
T. POWERS: Pending this investigation. Items, receipts. Again, we`re trying to get a search warrant to get some more information about this.
GRACE: Tell me about the post that you made on Facebook that everybody`s all crazy about. What happened?
T. POWERS: Well, I`ve exhausted every resource. Administratively, legally, civilly, it was a last resort for a public forum to get information. This is about getting justice, getting him convicted, arrested. I need information from students, from possible other victims.
GRACE: What about her little girlfriend? Do you think she would have confided in them?
T. POWERS: You know what, I don`t believe that she has. I believe she`s protecting him. I think she was coached. I think he`s fully versed in the law, and he`s protecting -- self-preservation is his biggest goal.
GRACE: You know, Tammie Powers, at night when you`re at home and you`re missing your girl, I don`t know how you can put your head down on the pillow thinking about what she is doing and what is happening in her life right now.
T. POWERS: No, Nancy, I`ve had a lot of sleepless nights. I`ve had limited sleep, but I want to channel that into something productive. I`m going to get him. I`m pretty vocal. And I`m -- he`s messed with the wrong mother.
GRACE: Tell it, Tammie Powers. Tammie, do you believe that at this juncture based on what you`re seeing on your daughter that she would lie for him under oath? Would she lie to cover up for him?
T. POWERS: Absolutely, I believe that she will protect him at all costs. I believe that`s been his manipulation all along. He didn`t just meet her, he had four years to convince her to obtain that loyalty.
GRACE: Tell me. I understand that there are some pretty incriminating photos, including her sitting in his lap. Have you seen the photos?
T. POWERS: I have not seen the photos, those photos were taken a week after I had confronted him and gone to the police. In arrogance, he knew I suspected -- he knew I confronted him, and yet still had her on his lap in class.
GRACE: In class?
T. POWERS: In class. She was in class. All the students -- the students were taking pictures. What arrogance.
GRACE: Lisa Lockwood, former detective, author of "Undercover Angel."
Lisa, what should police be doing now?
LOCKWOOD, FORMER DETECTIVE, AUTHOR OF "UNDERCOVER ANGEL": Well, what they need to do is, again, what you said, Nancy, what was brilliant is the fact that peers, no, alibis were set up, this man was extremely intelligent in covering his tracks. I would guarantee that he`s got a friend he confided in, as well, and she has, too, to set up alibi, to hide from her mom, where she was even, so they need to talk to those people that were nearest and dearest to the both of them.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A mother in California wants her teenage daughter to stop living with her teacher? You heard right.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tammie has turned her Facebook page into a warning for other parents.
T. POWERS: Clearly he has a disconnect and bad judgment.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tammie thinks the affair started when her daughter was a minor.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Forty-one-year-old James Hooker has known Jordan Powers since freshman year. Her mother believes that Hooker has committed a crime.
T. POWERS: James Hooker has been texting Jordan over the summer. There were text messages back and forth, as a minor.
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GRACE: We are back and taking your calls.
Out to Kim, Louisiana. Hi, Kim. What`s your question?
KIM, CALLER FROM LOUISIANA: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Hey, love.
KIM: First of all, I and all of Louisiana love you very much. I first want to say something to Tammie Powers. I stand behind her a thousand percent as a mother. Everything that she has said is pretty what I would have said. And I can`t understand why they have not gotten him on the very first text message that was sent. Or --
GRACE: OK. Let`s throw that to Renee Rockwell, a fellow Cajun, and thank you to all my Cajun friends who support our show.
Renee, if we don`t have the body of the text messages, the text messages don`t mean anything except the sheer number of them, eight thousand?
ROCKWELL: Thank god they don`t mean anything, Nancy. You want me to talk to you as a defense attorney or as a female that would be upset about this if this was my niece?
GRACE: Well, why don`t we just try to deal with the truth.
ROCKWELL: Thank god that that`s not enough.
GRACE: The truth is that all indications are that this relationship started before she was 18. At this hour, cops investigating.
Let`s stop and remember Marine Corporal Joshua Schmitz, 21, Loyal, Wisconsin, killed in Iraq. On second tour, Purple Heart, Navy Marine Corps Commendation, Combat Action. Loved fishing, hunting, music, drums, guitar, football. Gave up a football scholarship to enlist. Leaves behind parents Mark and Kelly, sisters Angie and Stephanie, brothers Justin, Brandon, Nicholas.
Joshua Schmitz. American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us. And happy birthday to Texas friend, Joan, devoted wife to Jim, mother of three, grandmother of one, mentor to children across the -- across Dallas.
Happy birthday.
And congratulations to Mississippi friend Skylar Lane. Now in the top 24 of "American Idol." A hometown girl.
You go, Skylar.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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