Former student testifies during sentencing of Tomball teacher who abused him: ‘It ruined me’

A 17-year-old boy testified that he was half the weight and nearly half the height of his former Tomball teacher amid years of inappropriate behavior – misconduct that on Tuesday led to a judge sentencing the defendant to 10 years deferred adjudication probation. During one sex act, the Tomball Intermediate School teacher sat the teen on a chair and he recalled that his feet could not touch the ground. The 32-year-old teacher, Marka Bodine, will also report to the Harris County Jail in a year to serve a 60-day sentence as part of that punishment, a delay intended to avoid separating the defendant from her 3-month-old child, the judge ordered.

The sentencing stems from Bodine being charged in April 2021 with aggravated sexual assault of a child. She pleaded guilty to the offense in May. Court records show Bodine worked at the Tomball school for seven years. Details surrounding the investigation were divulged Tuesday during a pre-sentencing investigation to allow Judge Greg Glass in the 208th District Court to hear evidence in the case and decide the punishment. A Tomball investigator testified that he searched phones belonging to Bodine and the student and found several illicit photos that were taken throughout their relationship. The abuse started in 2018, when the student was 13, and stopped about a week before he turned 16 in 2019, he said. The student took the witness stand as his former teacher sat alongside her lawyer, and testified that their encounters started after she asked for his phone number to play Fortnite. The game turned to hours-long conversations about his parents’ divorce and her family life. “I never had a person I could talk to about my feelings,” the teen said. “I was starting to love her in a way.” The Chronicle does not typically identify victims of sexual abuse. The relationship escalated as Bodine moved to the same apartment complex as the teen and continued when his family moved 45 minutes away from Tomball.