Parent: SF swim instructor arrested for child porn wanted to babysit child
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco parents are disturbed after a swim instructor was arrested on child pornography charges. Nicholas Hodges, 28, was arrested last month and appeared in court on Wednesday.
ABC7 News is now learning new details from the parents of some of his students.
Hodges appeared in court for the second time since he was arrested. He was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to child porn charges. The SFPD is still investigating this case to see if he actually harmed any child he came into contact with.
Police say so far, they've found no evidence that children of a popular swim school were harmed, but one parents says his child may have become a victim if he had not been arrested.
RELATED: San Francisco swim coach arrested on suspicion of child pornography
Hodges' parents came to court on Wednesday, their handcuffed son acknowledging them with a smile.
John Tighe was also in court. "It was really disturbing to hear what happened," he said.
Hodges taught Tighe's 6-year-old how to swim at Le Petite Baleen Swim School for the past two years.
VIDEO: Full interview with parent John Tighe
Parents liked and trusted him. Hodges had also been with kids at the House of Air trampoline park, right next door to the swim school. He has worked there for several years.
The charging documents say he had more than 600 files of child porn on his computer and cellphone, including explicit videos of children as young as 2 years old.
Hodges was arrested at the swim school in April after an investigation by the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
The school issued a statement saying, "The SFPD has not found evidence linking any of our students to the charges against Hodges."
But Tighe, and perhaps other parents, may have dodged a bullet.
"This person that we had trusted greatly, who only a couple days before he was arrested had solicited to come babysit for our 6-year-old," Tighe said. He said this is what Hodges told his child: "I'll come over maybe on a Friday night and babysit for you and then I can do magic tricks."
As Tighe says, he trusted Hodges to teach his son to swim in deep water so why would he not have trusted him to babysit.
