Registered sex offender accused of having sex with teen he tutored in San Jose

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A registered sex offender in San Jose is back in trouble after police say he had sex with a 15-year-old girl whom he was tutoring.

Police aren't ruling out the possibility that there could be additional victims, which is why they've released his picture, all with goal of getting more information from the public.

Thomas Reeves, 51, of San Jose is a former teacher and a registered sex offender. He was charged this week with 14 counts of felony child molestation after police say he had sex with a 15-year-old girl on several occasions between Oct. 2015 and April of this year. Police say he had been working as the girl's English tutor.

"Our 290 team, which is our Megan's Law team, they typically monitor sex registrants, and of course, this came across their desk, they did some follow-up investigation," said San Jose police Officer Albert Morales.

This isn't the suspect's first brush with the law. Back in 2002, Reeves was arrested in Sacramento in a sting operation, after police say he tried to set up a date with a 12-year-old girl. Reeves was an elementary school teacher in Oakland at the time of that arrest.

He would later be sentenced to 12-years in prison in a separate case, after being found guilty of molesting two underage girls in the East Bay.

Upon release, Reeves began offering his services as a language tutor, although he likely wasn't supposed to have contact with minors.

Police say he was not affiliated with a local learning center, or school.

At this point, they aren't sure if the victims' parents did a background check on Reeves, but said the suspect did provide the family with his real name.

"We're putting this information out, if somebody recognizes him, that they had dealings with, or maybe he was out there soliciting his services as a tutor, then again, we definitely want to have those people contact the San Jose Police Department's sexual assaults unit," Morales said.

Reeves is expected to appear in court in three weeks