Last week a former Park Hill High School head coach was convicted of a sex crime against a minor.
On Thursday, Dec. 14, a Clay County jury found Joshua Hood guilty of the Class C Felony of statutory rape in the second degree for the abuse of a student that occurred in January of 2010. The state indicted Hood on May 19, 2021 and the trial commenced on Dec. 11, in Division 1 of the Clay County Courthouse. The jury has recommended a sentence of five years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and the case has been set to 3 p.m. Feb. 21, 2024 for sentencing.
Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson commended the work of the Kansas City Police Department in investigating this crime.
Hood
“We should all be able to send our kids to school without fear that the people we have trusted to look after them will instead become their abuser,” Thompson said. “This verdict demonstrates that we will never tolerate such predatory abuse in Clay County.”
The case was tried for the state by Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys John Creagar and Josephine Ellerman.
“This case is about two people: one person who bore the burden of abuse for 10 years, and one person who spent 10 years running from the consequences,” Creagar said. “This case once again proves that delayed disclosure does not prevent justice from being served.”
Hood was previously convicted in 2020 of five counts of statutory sodomy in the second degree, one count of attempted statutory rape in the second degree, one count of child molestation in the second degree, and one count of statutory rape in the second degree in Jackson County.
“What the defendant did to this victim, he had done before,” Thompson said. “Because of the bravery of this victim, he will never again be in a position to prey on an innocent child in our schools.”
Hood was employed at Park Hill High School until December 2020 when he was suspended by the district upon the news of the Jackson County charges. The district isn’t aware of any alleged incidents while Hood was employed at Park Hill.