Former tutor now faces 55 counts related to alleged lewd acts on students

Yet again, former Palo Alto math tutor Mark Allan Hodes’ plea hearing was postponed after prosecutors added additional charges against him alleging multiple lewd and lascivious acts against girls whom he had taught in his home. The current number of charges: 55.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office filed three additional counts against him on Monday, Oct. 18, switching his scheduled Oct. 19 court appearance from a plea hearing to an arraignment. He is now set to enter a plea on Dec. 14.

This is the prosecution’s second amended felony complaint filed since Hodes was initially charged in September 2020 with nine felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child, which are related to three of his female students. He was initially released on a $450,000 bond. The court ordered he be held without bail, however, after prosecutors filed their first amended complaint this past April for a total of 52 charges for alleged lewd acts on 16 girls. He remains in jail without bail, according to court documents.

The incidents spanned nearly two decades, from 2002 to 2019, and the girls were as young as 12 years old, according to the second amended complaint. It adds three new charges of a lewd and lascivious act on a child age 14 or 15 for alleged acts on another girl, raising the total number of girls to 17. The acts against the 17th girl allegedly occurred between Sept. 1, 2012, and April 14, 2014, according to the complaint.

The second amended complaint includes 45 counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a 14- or 15-year-old child with the defendant being 10 or more years older than the victim; and 10 counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 with no force used. Some of the counts carry sentences of 25 years to life in prison. If convicted, Hodes, 75, would likely spend the rest of his life in custody.

Hodes operated Peninsula Tutoring Service from his Manuela Avenue home since 1970, teaching students mathematics at the primary and secondary grade levels and the university level, according to his LinkedIn profile, which has been taken down since initial charges were issued last year.

He was arrested by Palo Alto police on Aug. 25, 2020, after two women who were former students discussed their experiences in Hodes’ home and came forward.