A child in Texas wrote a letter to God revealing sexual abuse by a 49-year-old man. The child’s parents found the letter, then reported the information to the police.
Texas Man Convicted of Sexual Abuse After Parents Find Their Child’s Letter To God
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Learning of the letter led to the arrest and conviction. And during the subsequent investigation, cops discovered that a second child was being abused by the same man.
“One of the children’s parents found a letter their child had written to God in which she disclosed the abuse,” said the district attorney’s office. “The child was forensically interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County, where both children disclosed details about the ongoing abuse.”
McKinney Police Department Detective Zachary Craven investigated the case. Authorities arrested Mark Elliott Jones of McKinney and charged him with two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child.
“Jones sexually abused two children who he had ongoing access to over a period of several years,” the Collin County District Attorney said in a statement.
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“The two victims were 10 and 14 years old.” Jones was found guilty of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child on Monday, according to the statement.
Due to the extremely young nature of the victims involved, additional details are not being released about their relationship with the defendant. “Judge Andrea Thompson assessed punishment at 35 years in prison,” the statement continues.
“By law, a sentence for Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child is without eligibility for parole.”
The outlet confirms that Jones will be on the state’s sex offender registry for the rest of his life.
“It is a sad day in the community when we learn that a sexual predator has been abusing even one innocent child for years,” District Attorney Greg Willis said in the statement. “But to learn that this predator sexually traumatized not one but two innocent children is simply unbearable.”
Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Kim Kircher and Ashleigh Woodall prosecuted the case, assisted by District Attorney Investigators Kim Voigt-Eanes and Sam Selman, Victim Assistance Coordinator Casey Hendrix, and Legal Secretary Christy Ware.
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