Daughter speaks before former police sergeant sentenced for sex abuse

A 19-year-old woman stood up in court Thursday afternoon and told the judge she wishes the past several years were a nightmare from which she could wake up.

“Unfortunately, my father raped me and molested me,” said the young woman, who is referred to in court as Jane Doe. “It is reality; there is no waking up.”

She spoke in court moments before her father, Robert Hodges, was sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing her when she was 15 years old.

Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Thomas Zeff also ordered Hodges, a former Modesto police sergeant, to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The judge said his sentence was based on the aggravating factors that the victim was vulnerable, the defendant took advantage of a position of trust, and the defendant’s attitude toward the offense. Zeff also based his decision on the mitigating factor that Hodges had no criminal record before this case.

Kirk McAllister, Hodges’ attorney, argued during the trial that the allegations were a means for the daughter to get her way and leverage for her mother in divorcing Hodges.

The defense attorney had asked the judge to sentence Hodges to probation because the defendant had no previous criminal record and because of his admirable service to the Police Department.

“He is not a danger to the public,” McAllister said about his client. “It’s been several years since this happened.”

A jury late last month found Hodges guilty of four out of seven felony sexual abuse charges and acquitted him of the three others.

Hodges didn’t speak in court during his sentencing hearing. He sat a few feet away from where his daughter gave her victim impact statement.

She said her biggest fear is she may never be able to feel truly happy and be with someone else. She said she fears that any intimacy with another man might trigger flashbacks of her father’s abuse.

She testified in the trial that the abuse began one day when she was home sick at the beginning of her freshman year in high school in 2009. She said the molestation later escalated to sexual intercourse and continued over several months until the end of her freshman year.

It wasn’t until January 2012 that Jane Doe first spoke about the abuse during an argument with her father about a 21-year-old man she wanted to date. She revealed the abuse during a car ride from Sacramento with her father, mother and brother.

She said in court she was afraid to reveal the abuse because it would break up her family, get her father fired and leave her with what her father told her would be the lasting stigma of a sexual abuse victim.

During the sentencing hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees read a written statement from the victim’s mother. The mother said Hodges caused so much pain to her children and to her, and she can’t understand how anyone could commit such unspeakable acts to his daughter without showing any remorse.

“I don’t believe he will ever feel remorse,” Hodges’ ex-wife wrote.

Hodges, through his attorney, declined to speak to Stanislaus County probation officials. The officials did speak to the victim’s mother and included her statements it in a filed report.

She told probation officials that when she first heard her husband had sexually abused their daughter, she felt as if she was kicked in the stomach. Jane Doe told investigators that her parents told her they would not tell police about the abuse because Hodges would go to jail, according to the probation report. They all agreed to keep the abuse hidden, she said.

The victim’s mother said Hodges assured her it had been more than a year since he’d had sex with their daughter and that it would never happen again. She also said he pressured her to “keep it a family issue” because “they would have nothing” if he left the family, according to the report.

Her 17-year marriage to Hodges ended when they separated in September 2012, a month before she persuaded her daughter to tell police about the abuse. After going to police, she was fearful Hodges would retaliate against her and her children, according to the report.

McAllister on Thursday called the mother’s allegations a fabrication and presented copies of text messages between her and Hodges after Jane Doe spoke to police. The attorney said the messages between Hodges and his ex-wife about the exchange of property were very friendly and civilized.

Hodges was convicted of two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object, one count of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, and one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. The jury also found him guilty of a lesser offense of misdemeanor battery.

After he was arrested, Hodges bailed out of jail, and four months later he was charged with two counts of violating a restraining order telling him to not try to contact Jane Doe or her immediate family. He was found guilty of both misdemeanor counts for trying to communicate with his son.

Hodges was a 15-year veteran of the department and was working patrol when he was arrested Oct. 22, 2012. He no longer works for the department.

On Thursday, the prosecutor told the judge that there were several members of the Modesto Police Department attending the sentencing to support Hodges’ daughter.

Jane Doe testified that almost every time he was done abusing her, Hodges would apologize and tell her it was a mistake. She said he told her that if anyone ever found out a police officer was sexually abusing his daughter, people would look down on her.

On Thursday, she told the judge she kept the abuse hidden so well from others for years just to survive. She said she now realizes her father’s threats of what would happen to her were all lies.

“People are disgusted by him,” she said while reading from a written statement in court. “People hate him, because he is a monster.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Daughter speaks before former police sergeant sentenced for sex abuse."