Berkeley ex-school teacher who claimed to be in love with student sentenced to prison

Former Bayhill High School teacher Jason Hoopes, 50, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison after pleading no contest to arranging a sexual meeting with a minor and statutory rape. Hoopes groomed a student with graphic text messages and expressions of love, and was arrested in 2025 on 23 felony counts. The Alameda County District Attorney called his crimes a profound betrayal of trust.

Getting your Trinity Audio //trinityaudio.ai player ready...BERKELEY — A former high school teacher who groomed a student with graphic text messages and expressions of love will serve a six-year, eight-month prison sentence through a plea deal that the Alameda County District Attorney announced Monday. Jason Hoopes, 50, pleaded no contest to arranging a sexual meeting with a minor and statutory rape of a student. District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson released a statement calling his crimes “a profound betrayal of trust.” Hoopes was arrested in 2025, originally charged with 23 felonies, after police uncovered evidence he’d sexually abused an underage student no fewer than five times, according to court records. Their investigation included seized text messages between the student and Hoopes, where Hoopes detailed graphic, sometimes violent, sexual fantasies, including saying he wanted to “kidnap you off the street” and “I want to sneak into your room in the night while you’re sleeping,” armed with a knife. “I’m laying here in bed in the dark listening to a demo I did of a new song for my band and writing lyrics totally thinking about you,” the high school band teacher allegedly wrote in one text, according to police. Finally, when he learned he would soon be arrested, Hoopes authored a suicide note shifting blame to the victim, writing that, the two “crossed a line together.” The letter was left for his significant other, who gave to police, according to court records. Hoopes, an El Cerrito resident, worked at Bayhill High School, a private school for students in grades 7 to 12 with learning disabilities, since 2016. The charging records allege crimes that took place between at least March 23 and May 4 of last year. Police began investigating him after the alleged victim’s father tipped them off on May 19, authorities said. The principal of the high school also told police after hearing that Hoopes had targeted a second student for sexual abuse, but no charges have yet been filed involving that teen, court records show. After his arrest last May, Hoopes was placed in a mental health hold before being jailed, court records show. He was fired from his job, and the school issued a statement saying his arrest was “shocking and devastating for our entire school community.” Hoopes must register as a sex offender for life, according to the terms of the plea deal.