Trial date set for PE teacher accused of touching 88 first graders inappropriately

CINCINNATI (FOX19) - A trial date is now set for the former Springboro physical education teacher facing 36 counts of gross sexual imposition.

A Warren County grand jury returned an indictment on 36 counts related to John Hopkins’ contact... — A Warren County grand jury returned an indictment on 36 counts related to John Hopkins’ contact with 28 of the 88 students, prosecutor David Fornshell says.

John Austin Hopkins, 25, of Springboro, was captured on surveillance video between December 2018 and March 2019 having inappropriate physical contact with 88 first grade girls in the Clearcreek Elementary School gymnasium, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell says.

Hopkins faced a judge Tuesday morning for a pretrial hearing where a trial date was set for Jan. 13 through Jan. 17, 2020.

He is currently out on bond after posting 10 percent of his $500,000 bond in June.

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While he is out of jail, he is restricted to his home where he is not to have any contact with minors, per the judge’s ruling.

At the time of the incidents, Fornshell said Hopkins was employed by the Springboro Community City Schools as a physical education teacher at Clearcreek Elementary and Springboro Intermediate. Though he is accused of touching 88 of the first graders inappropriately, a grand jury only returned an indictment for 28 of the students, leading to the 36-count indictment. The prosecutor did not elaborate on the reason the grand jury only returned indictments for 28 of the 88 students, but said it may have been due to the way each of the girls was touched.

He says it was up to the grand jury to determine what was inappropriate contact and what was criminal contact.

Hopkins taught first and sixth grade at both Clearcreek Elementary and Springboro Intermediate over the past school year. Before that, he was a substitute teacher in the school district.

Fornshell says that though both boys and girls were present in the gym at the time the sexual contact happened, Hopkins only touched the girls.

Hopkins was put on administrative leave in March when the school district began investigating allegations of possible misconduct, school officials said at the time.

He quit just days later.

Hopkins is due back in court for another pretrial hearing Dec. 10.