A former Bayhill High music teacher who told a student he was in love with them has been sentenced to six years and eight months in state prison and ordered to register as a sex offender for life, closing a case that began when the student’s family raised alarms in May 2025. The outcome has rattled families at the small private school where he once taught.
Hoopes received the prison term after resolving the case in Alameda County Superior Court, prosecutors said. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson called his conduct “a profound betrayal of trust,” according to SFGATE.
Hoopes was arrested in May 2025 after Bayhill officials reported what they described as inappropriate text communications between a staff member and a student; the school later fired him, according to officials. Court documents show he was originally charged with more than 20 felonies, a total of 23 counts in the charging papers, before reaching a plea that resolved key counts, according to Hoodline. Bayhill’s website describes the school as a small program serving students with learning differences.
Police and court records outlined a pattern of explicit messages and multiple in-person encounters. Investigators cited texts in which Hoopes told the student he wanted to “sneak into your room in the night while you're sleeping,” and the charging papers allege repeated sexual contact, according to The Press Democrat. Court filings say the teacher wrote a suicide note that attempted to shift blame to the victim, and the principal told police Hoopes had also targeted a second student.
School and community reaction
Bayhill said it made a mandated report to police once concerns surfaced and called the arrest shocking and devastating for our entire school community, according to statements cited in reporting. Families and local advocates described the sentence as an important step toward accountability, while also pressing for tougher oversight of staff-student communications at schools like Bayhill. The school’s site and local coverage have laid out the timeline of its response, and Bayhill School has published its statements in full.
Legal context
The allegations, including arranging a sexual meeting with a minor, unlawful sexual intercourse and oral copulation with a minor, fall under California statutes that criminalize sex with people under 18 and certain forms of oral copulation. Penal Code section 261.5 covers unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor; related provisions governing oral copulation appear elsewhere in the Penal Code. For statutory language and penalties, see California Legislative Information on PC 261.5 and a summary of oral-copulation statutes. Judges may impose or keep in place sex-offender-registration requirements as part of felony resolutions.
