After he gets probation in Jackson County
Josh Hood, who is the former football coach at Park Hill High School, will serve five years probation after pleading guilty to eight counts of sexual crimes in Jackson County, and he now faces an additional sex crime charge in a different county.
Later on the same day as that guilty plea in Jackson County, Hood was officially served with a warrant for an alleged sex crime in Clay County. Hood has been indicted by a Clay County grand jury on a charge of statutory rape in the second degree for an incident that allegedly occurred on Jan. 16, 2010 with someone who was 15 years old at the time, according to court documents viewed by The Landmark. Hood was 33 years old at the time.
Hood is scheduled to be arraigned on the Clay County charge on Thursday, June 10. He is free after posting $100,000 surety bond on the Clay County charge on Thursday, June 3.
After the charge in Clay County became public knowledge, on Friday the Park Hill School District released an updated statement concerning Hood that said:
“We learned this morning of an additional allegation against Josh Hood, while he was employed with another school district. While we are still not aware of any reports or allegations from his time working in Park Hill, we encourage anyone who might know of any improper behavior to report it to us right away.”
Park Hill’s statement added: “The charges against him were from his time working in other school districts. He started working in Park Hill in 2013.”
Hood, who was still serving as Park Hill High School head football coach when he was charged with the crimes that occurred while he was at a school district in Jackson County, pled guilty last Wednesday to eight counts of sexual crimes including child molestation, statutory rape and statutory sodomy.
Prosecutors charged Hood, 44, with the crimes stemming from his time as a teacher and coach at Holden High School in 2003-2004.
Hood admitted in a plea hearing, which was held virtually, on June 1 in Jackson County court to having multiple sexual encounters with a high school student under the age of 17 at his apartment in Lee’s Summit and another location.
Hood will serve five years probation for the most serious felony counts, register as a sex offender and surrender his teaching license, after he agreed to terms of a plea deal presented by Jackson County prosecutors.
A judge accepted the terms of the plea deal, suspending a four-year prison sentence for the felony counts, along with a one-year jail sentence for a misdemeanor count against Hood.
The victim made an impact statement during the hearing. She said she still has nightmares about Hood, saying she wanted to come forward to protect others.
“I repeatedly lied for Josh and his secrets. I know what Josh did. He knows what he did. And God knows what he did,” said the victim.
The victim also said she had forgiven Hood, saying she hopes God would have mercy on him if he is ever fully repentant.
Hood answered questions from the judge saying “yes sir.” He pleaded guilty to the crimes in hushed tones. He did not make any other statements.
Hood was employed by the Park Hill School district from 2013 until 2020.
Before becoming the Park Hill football coach in February 2013, Hood served as an assistant coach at Staley High School. He also had previous stops at Concordia, William Chrisman, Holden and Oak Park.
In his time as head coach at Park Hill, Hood’s teams won four conference championships and went 60-32, including a 4-7 record in 2020. He led the Trojans to the Missouri Class 5 state semifinals in 2014 and the Missouri Class 6 semifinals in 2017.
The Holden School District accepted Hood’s resignation in June of 2004, after he taught during the 2003-2004 school year. A previous statement by the Holden district said the board of education was surprised to learn about the allegations.
After the guilty plea by Hood, the Park Hill School District issued a statement to the media via email:
“We take any possible harm to students extremely seriously, so we suspended Josh Hood without pay in December, as soon as we learned of the allegations against him. Since he voluntarily surrendered his teaching certificate as part of this plea, we will not need to take steps to get it revoked, and this will officially terminate his contract with Park Hill.
“The charges against him were from his time working in another school district, back in 2003 and 2004. We are not aware of any reports or allegations about Josh Hood of any kind of similar misconduct here in the Park Hill School District,” said the statement from the Park Hill School District.