SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2026   |   Brandi Owczarz, Gordon Gazette

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On Friday, February 13, 2026, former Gordon County Commission chairperson Becky Hood and her husband, local businessman Scott Hood, both entered guilty pleas in Gordon County Superior Court concerning their years-long legal battle pertaining to child abuse charges.

The case was presided over by Senior Judge Ralph Van Pelt, Jr. of the Superior Courts of Georgia. No local judge from the Cherokee Judicial Circuit, which includes Gordon County, heard the cases against the Hoods due to conflict of interest.

In late March of 2025, Becky Hood was indicted on a count of 1st degree Cruelty to Children. According to that indictment, on or about Jan. 21, 2021, Becky Hood maliciously caused a minor child in the home, under the age of 18, cruel and excessive physical and mental pain by pouring coffee on the child, grabbing the child by the hair, pulling the child to the ground by her hair causing the child’s head to strike the ground, kicking the child, and calling the child a bitch.

At the time of Becky Hood's indictment, Scott Hood was indicted on a count of Child Molestation. According to the indictment, on or around Nov. 29, 2013, Scott Hood committed an immoral and indecent act on a minor child in the home, under the age of 16, with the intent to arouse and satisfy the sexual desires of the accused by touching the child’s vagina with his hand.

On Friday, Scott Hood entered a guilty plea on a charge of Sexual Battery on a Child Under the Age of 16 using the Alford plea.

Several noted law publications have described the Alford plea in detail. According to the University of Richmond Law Review, "When offering an Alford plea, a defendant asserts his innocence but admits that sufficient evidence exists to convict him of the offense." A Guide to Military Criminal Law states that under the Alford plea, "the defendant concedes that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict, but the defendant still refuses to admit guilt." The book Plea Bargaining's Triumph: A History of Plea Bargaining in America published by Stanford University Press defines the plea as one in "which the defendant adheres to his/her claim of innocence even while allowing that the government has enough evidence to prove his/her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

Basically, in an Alford plea, the defendant tells the judge they are innocent but agrees that the evidence is strong enough to convict them, usually to avoid a more severe sentence. The judge must find evidence of guilt and ensure the plea is a rational choice.

On Friday, Scott Hood admitted guilt using the Alford plea. Hood acknowledged in court that if a jury heard the evidence against him by the District Attorney, the jury could find him guilty.

The Blue Ridge District Attorney’s Office handled prosecuting for the State due to a conflict of interest should the local DA’s office prosecute the case. The Blue Ridge DA’s Office, which exclusively covers Cherokee County, Ga., was appointed to the case in 2022. 

On Friday, the DA present explained to the court how Scott Hood's charges came about. The DA said that in January of 2021, Becky Hood's case originated from a DFCS report of child abuse on one of the female children in the Hood household. DFCS sent an investigator to the child's school to interview the child. The child told investigators that she had been disagreeing with her mom about getting a haircut when her mom, identified as Becky Hood, slung coffee on the child, grabbed the child by the hair, yanked the child to the ground and by doing so caused the child's head to strike the ground and kicked the child. During that DFCS interview, the investigator told the child that the children in the Hood home would need to be removed for a formal investigation. The child, panicked and scared, contacted a sister of Scott Hood, who met the child and her older sister at the home. The child and her older sister told their aunt what had happened in the incident with Becky Hood, then the older sister told their aunt that Scott Hood had molested her several years prior. The DA said that the older sister was then given a forensic interview, where the child explained that during a movie night in Scott and Becky Hood's bedroom several years prior when she was in the fifth grade, Scott Hood had inappropriately touched her in her pubic region. The forensic interview showed that the child could remember other events in that timeline, with the DA saying that the day after the alleged inappropriate touching by Scott Hood, the child was showing pigs at a local agricultural event and, according to the child, Scott Hood told her at that event, in, private that he didn't mean to touch her the night before and that she should never tell anyone about it.

Scott Hood was asked if he understood all the charges and the plea deal, and he admitted that he did. Judge Van Pelt accepted the plea deal, and agreed to the sentence of 5 years probation for Scott Hood under the Alford plea, with Hood having to register as a sex offender. As of Friday night, Scott Hood was already listed on the Sex Offender Registry.

Judge Van Pelt did not grant the DA’s request to deny Scott Hood to attend his teenage son’s high school events, such as sports. Those listed on the sex offender registry are usually not allowed to attend events where minors are present, such as events held on school grounds. The judge said that because Scott Hood has been attending the games over the past couple of years prior to his guilty plea and sentence, he could still attend school events as long as he is chaperoned by an adult. It was mentioned that the decision could change if the school had issues with it.

It was also noted that Scott Hood did not qualify for a first time offender plea.

Becky Hood pleaded guilty to the charge of misdemeanor Reckless Conduct, admitting that she was guilty of the charges brought against her.  She was given probation of one year, a $1,000 fine and mandatory anger management and parenting classes, which she said she had already completed.

The plea deals come after several orders and six subpoenas were filed in the case in Gordon County Superior Court over the last couple of weeks. Those filings indicated that the minor victim in Scott Hood’s case would be recanting her story and the State was “required to prove intent and to rebut the minor victim’s recantation in the case.”

One of the orders filed on Feb. 3, 2026 and approved by the judge granted the State’s motion to present other acts of evidence against Scott Hood. 

In Georgia, "other acts of evidence" refers to evidence of a person's prior crimes, wrongs or similar acts under OCGA § 24-4-404(b). While generally inadmissible to prove character, this evidence may be admitted for other purposes, such as proving motive, intent, plan, knowledge or identity.

The “other acts of evidence” listed in that particular order filed in court was alleged child molestation by Scott Hood against two female relatives who are now adults.

In the order, one female relative stated that Scott Hood “committed a rape against the female when she was around fourteen (14) years old.” The order also granted the State’s presentment of other acts of evidence concerning an alleged child molestation against the second female relative, who stated that Scott Hood would have this female relative “go to the basement and would touch her”  inappropriately in her private areas “over the clothes when she was approximately eight (8) or nine (9) years old.” When this female was approximately eleven (11) or twelve (12) years old, she alleges Scott Hood “repeatedly asked her to have sex with him, even offering to use a condom.” The order stated that this victim “refused these requests, and the act of sexual intercourse did not occur.” 

The second order filed also granted the State’s motion to present other acts of evidence, and presented testimony by a female relative of Scott Hood who alleges she witnessed Scott Hood “masturbating to a framed photo of his daughters, including the minor child who is the alleged victim in the State’s indictment.” The female relative stated in the order that in the photograph, “the alleged victim was approximately ten (10) years old at the time it was taken.” The alleged incident by Scott Hood was to have taken place a few years prior to the acts alleged in the indictment. This order states that “The Defendant (Scott Hood) denies that these acts occurred. The State is required to prove intent and to rebut the minor victim’s recantation in this case. The evidence here is relevant to show an alleged sexual fixation on this particular minor victim and is not merely character evidence. Therefore, the probative value outweighs any prejudicial effect.”

Scott and Becky Hood released a statement Friday through their attorney, Jason Hood. The statement said that Scott Hood denied the allegation made against him but wished to resolve the case to relieve the stress and anguish these charges and the pending trial have been placing on his family, and noted that the court allowing Scott Hood to enter a plea and be placed on probation without acknowledging factual guilt was a rare occurrence in Georgia.