Teacher and Student Relationship Confronted by Teen's Mom on 'Dr. Phil Show'
Hooker quit his job and left his family and Powers stopped attending classes.
March 14, 2012 — -- The mother of a teenager who moved in with her high school teacher in California confronted the man who she says brainwashed her daughter for first time on the "Dr. Phil Show."
Student Jordan Powers, 18, and former teacher James Hooker, 41, went public with their romance on "Good Morning America" earlier this month.
They first met when Powers was a high school freshman at James Enochs High School, in Modesto, Calif.
Hooker quit his job last month and left his family and Powers stopped attending classes. They later moved into an apartment together.
The couple and Powers' mother, Tammie Powers, appeared on the Dr. Phil show Tuesday. Tammie Powers told Hooker that he had "no moral compass."
"I think you are arrogant," Powers told Hooker on the show. "I think you are self-serving. I think you are selfish. I think you are ruining my child with this."
The couple have always maintained their relationship became sexual only after Powers legally became an adult. Tammie Powers is unconvinced.
"He [Hooker] shouldn't be with students," she said. "I'd like to see him arrested. I'd like to get information from when she was a minor and have him arrested."
Police are investigating but no charges have been filed and Hooker has not been arrested. In California, it is illegal for anyone younger than 18 to have sex with an adult.
Tammie Powers said earlier she also discovered 8,000 text messages between the two, along with late-night phone calls and email exchanges that took place when she was still a minor.
Hooker has a daughter ne year younger than his girlfriend. Hooker's daughter no longer attends the school all three once attended together.
"You've already had your kids, your wife, your marriage, your kids. She hasn't," Tammie Powers said to Hooker on the show. "She's just starting. How dare you take that from her."
Hooker said, "I just love her. We hope you are OK with that, too."
Tammie Powers said she "will never be OK with it" and said their relationship felt like "a custody dispute."
"You're the dad, I'm the mom. This is the child," Tammie Powers said.
To which Hooker responded, "This is actually my girlfriend."
But the couple said they have no regrets.
For Hooker, his new life now means finding a job other than teaching. Jordan Powers' new life consists of independent study and a hope to graduate this spring.
"I don't think I look at her as a student at all at this point," Hooker said. "And I think we are sharing a life."
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