Hoskins has long legal history

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Kenneth Hoskins Jr., a school advocate accused of sexually assaulting two 16-year-old students, has a long court history, including a paternity suit involving a 13-year-old girl, court records show.

Hoskins, now 32, was 17, and a senior at Creston High School, when the relationship with the 13-year-old girl led to the birth of a girl, according to court records.

That was his second child. Three months earlier, he got a 15-year-old girl pregnant, records indicate.

Kent County Circuit Court records show he had four children by three teenage mothers by the time he was 22.

"I knew about the 13-year-old, but there were no criminal charges brought against Mr. Hoskins in that case, but that has no impact on what he's charged with now," Hoskins' attorney John Beason said.

Each case led to paternity suits, filed by the Kent County Prosecutor on behalf of the state Department of Social Services, and rulings by judges that he was the father.

By law, the age difference in two of the paternity suits could have led to statutory rape allegations, but records show he was not charged.

The state Department of Social Services at the time was in charge of referring such cases to police for investigation, Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth said.

Court records also show two misdemeanor convictions for providing false information to Grand Rapids police -- in 2000 and 2003 -- one filed after police stopped him for driving on a suspended license. In one case, he was sentenced to three days in jail.

They also show that by early this year, he was more than $45,000 behind in child support.

School officials say they knew none of Hoskins' background when they hired him in November 2008 as a youth advocate -- to help at-risk students at Central High School. He was among 340 candidates for the job.

"You found it, you found it," Beason said. "So, how then could the school not have found it?"

School spokesman John Helmholdt said the district followed state law when it checked his background on a Michigan State Police Web site. The false information convictions don't show up there. However, they appear on the Grand Rapids District Court Web site.

Even if the district knew of the false information convictions, its policy would not have barred him from a job, Helmholdt said.

The district is not required to check paternity suits or other civil cases, he said. In fact, the state civil rights act wouldn't allow it to consider such cases, Helmholdt said.

"We did this process by the book, by exactly what we do with all 4,000 other employees that we've hired," Helmholdt said.

He says Hoskins' father, the Rev. Kenneth Hoskins Sr., played no role in getting him the job as a school board member.

Hoskins Jr. could not be reached for comment. His father refused to comment.

Hoskins Jr. is accused of a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old Central High student that allegedly started a month after he was hired. The assault occurred at the school, police said.

He is also accused in a relationship with another 16-year-old Central High sophomore that allegedly led to a Motel 6.

In each case, he is charged with third-degree sexual assault -- a 15-year felony.

A timeline for Kenneth Hoskins, Jr.

• Oct. 6, 1994: Hoskins, 17, has sex with 15-year-old girl. Judge rules he's boy's father.
• January 1995: Hoskins, 17, has sex with 13-year-old girl. Judge rules he's girl's father.
• June, 20, 1996: Hoskins, 18, has sex with 17-year-old, same woman in first relationship. Judge rules he's boy's father.
• 1999-2002: Worked as substitute teacher in GR.
• Jan. 1, 2000. Hoskins, 22, has sex with 17-year-old. Judge rules he's father of son.
• March 3, 2000: false information to police, a misdemeanor, in GR.
• June 6, 2003: false information to police, a misdemeanor, in GR. Jailed 3 days.
• Oct. 20, 2008: hired as a teacher's aide at Riverside Middle School.
• Nov. 24, 2008: hired as youth advocate, assigned to Central High School.
• December 2008: alleged relationship with 16-year-old student leads to sex charge.
• January-June 2009: alleged relationship with another 16-year-old student leads to sex charge.