Hopper pleads guilty; sentencing set for July

By Lisa Majors-Duff

"I plead guilty; I am guilty," Nathan Hopper, 50, of Sylva, said Monday in Jackson County Superior Court in response to questions put to him by Judge Dennis Winner.

Hopper, who was arrested Nov. 28 at the Sylva high school where he had taught biology and physical science since 1999, will remain out of jail until sentencing July 8 under the same pretrial conditions set after he posted a $65,000 bond Feb. 1.

At that time Judge Winner instructed Hopper not to have contact with his wife and daughters or any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 15. The judge Monday additionally ordered Hopper to undergo a sex offender evaluation before he appears before Judge Marlene Hyatt in Haywood County in July.

In her statement of the case facts, Assistant District Attorney Monica Leslie said Hopper's abuse of his daughter began in 1995 when she was 11 years old with "having her lay in the bed with him." It progressed, Leslie said, "to back rubs in her bedroom when her mother was in the shower or taking care of the couple's younger daughter."

The abuse included fondling and attempts by her father to penetrate her with his finger, Leslie said. The abuse ended in September 1998 when Hopper's daughter told her father to stop, the DA said.

"She kept it a secret until she very courageously decided she had to tell someone," Leslie told the judge. "She's going to Appalachian State University in the fall, and she did not want to leave her younger sister, who is 11 years old now, in the home. It took great courage for her to come forward."

Given an opportunity to speak in court on behalf of his client Monday, Waynesville attorney Roy Patton said he would reserve his comments until sentencing; however, after the session Patton termed the plea a fair one.

"(Hopper) has admitted he's done these things but did not plead guilty to that which he did not do," Patton said. "It's the kind of case that could go either way."

"I'm pleased at today's outcome," said Jackson County Sheriff's Department Detective Jimmy Clawson, who served as lead investigator on the case. "But it isn't over yet and won't be until he's sentenced in July."

Though investigators said early on that their case against Hopper was solid, they hit a stumbling block when a Jackson County Grand Jury refused to indict the Louisiana native on 30 counts of child sexual abuse in December.

A second Grand Jury, which heard additional evidence in the case, indicted Hopper in January on 19 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and 13 counts of first-degree statutory sexual offense.

As part of Monday's plea bargain arrangement, Hopper pleaded guilty to the indecent liberties charges in exchange for the state dropping the remaining 13 counts of statutory sexual offense. Sentencing will be totally at the discretion of the court, Leslie said.

Associate Editor Lynn Hotaling contributed to this report.

Hopper issues statement

"This has been a long and tragic ordeal for me and my family. For years I have lived with the shame, pain and fear for what I have done to my daughter - and I can only imagine what she has endured. She was courageous in coming forward with this, and I am proud of her. I have given her and again I give her my sincerest apologies. This is not a burden that should have been imposed on her.

"In my heart of hearts, I have asked again and again how this could happen, and how I could do what I did. What carried me on? To what extent did the sexual abuse I suffered as a child affect me? What other factors in our lives allowed affection to become something like this? For these reasons, I look forward to sex offender treatment in the hope that it will help me as well as my family to understand.

"I do want to assure my family, my friends, my colleagues, and my students and their families that this aberration on my part involved only one child - my own - and did not, nor does it extend to my youngest daughter or any other child. For the crimes for which I have been charged, I pleaded guilty today to those crimes to which I am guilty. I am not guilty of the others.

"I have loved teaching and have a great love for that profession, and for the students I have taught. I feel a tremendous obligation to my students, and I am proud to say that I have never violated the trust given me as a teacher.

"I am prepared to accept my punishment in the manner the court determines to be appropriate. I have already suffered the loss of my family, my career for which I felt I was ideally suited, my pride, and the respect of not only my family, but my friends and colleagues.

"I will do what I can to heal my child and my family, as well as myself. They have and will continue to suffer for what I did; and someday, perhaps with love and understanding, there can be forgiveness. I will strive for this wherever I am and whatever I am doing."

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