After sex crime charge, lawsuit accuses former Beaufort pre-K teacher of abusing student
As a former preschool teacher in Beaufort faces multiple pending criminal charges related to illicit photos of children, a civil lawsuit is accusing the 56-year-old woman of sexually abusing one of her students.
Beaufort resident Holli Hodges, formerly a teacher at the independently run Head Start program, was accused of third-degree exploitation of a minor in November 2023 after self-reporting inappropriate photos of children to her supervisor. In May of this year, she was also charged with a first-degree count of the same offense, a felony pertaining to aiding the production of child sexual abuse material.
Filed Monday in Beaufort County civil court, the suit alleges negligence on the part of the Beaufort-Jasper Economic Opportunity Commission, a nonprofit that sponsors Head Start. The preschool program is federally funded and operates out of several classrooms inside Beaufort Elementary School, meant to support low-income children from 6 weeks to 4 years old.
Court documents allege Hodges sexually abused the child, who was under 5 years old, while the student was enrolled in the 2023-2024 school year at Head Start. Due to the “highly sensitive and personal nature” of the allegations, the filing does not identify the mother of the child, instead referring to her as “Jane Doe.”
Lee Cope, a Hampton-based attorney representing the plaintiff, could not be reached via phone. A spokesperson for the Head Start program did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
In late October of last year, Hodges self-reported to her Head Start supervisor that she had inappropriate photos of children, according to previous reporting. The supervisor reached out to the Beaufort Police Department, who called Hodges in for questioning.
Hodges “voluntarily responded” to an interrogation room, the department said, but before any questions were asked, she started biting and kicking police officers. Beaufort police charged her with five counts of third-degree assault and battery, resisting arrest and one other charge that was dismissed in
The case was then turned over to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, whose investigation confirmed the existence of at least one illegal photo. Hodges was served the additional arrest warrant while already in custody at the detention center, police said.
Hodges was hired through the Head Start program around March 2023 and assigned to Beaufort Elementary, not hired through the Beaufort County School District. She was previously a kindergarten assistant at Port Royal Elementary from August 2020 until October 2021, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder. Before that, she worked at The Savvy Apple Preschool in Beaufort over five years ago.
Head Start immediately terminated Hodges when she self-reported the innapropriate photos, Executive Director James Williams previously told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
At the time the Head Start program hired Hodges, she passed the required federal and state background checks. Like all employees, she was vetted in conjunction with the Department of Social Services, according to Williams.
Following her first arrest, Hodges’ seized electronic items were submitted to the South Carolina Attorney General’s office for forensic examination, the sheriff’s office said.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, 24-hour help can be found by calling Hopeful Horizons at 843-770-1070 or by calling the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
