Affidavit: Former teacher confesses to assaulting child under Amarillo man’s direction

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - An Amarillo man who was arrested last month for serious crimes involving a child is facing upgraded charges.

Zackery Dondlinger, 37, of Happy, Texas was extradited to Ellis County last week and arraigned on an enhanced charge of sexual performance by a child, a first-degree felony.

He was initially arrested Dec. 23 in Loving County and held at Winkler County Detention Center on a lesser degree of the felony offense.

Dondlinger and his girlfriend, 30-year-old Madison Paige Jones, are named by Midlothian Police Department as suspects in an ongoing investigation regarding the sexual assault of a child.

Court documents obtained by NewsChannel10 show that on Dec. 17, Midlothian police went to the home of a woman who identified herself as a friend of Jones.

She told officers that Jones and Dondlinger were in a relationship and that she had concerns with Dondlinger’s behavior towards a 5-year-old child in Jones’ home.

Officers then spoke with Jones, who then confessed to sexually assaulting the 5-year-old on direction from Dondlinger.

In the documents, Jones reported Dondlinger was having sexual fantasies about the child.

Jones is a former substitute teacher for the school district. The Midlothian ISD put out a statement saying Jones was no longer employed by them and provided the last dates she worked as a substitute.

Affidavits say that Jones described the sexual acts in detail to officers. She also explained that she sent videos of said acts to Dondlinger via Snapchat to satisfy the sexual needs of Dondlinger.

Officers seized Jones’ iPhone and secured a search warrant. One affidavit states that officers found a message from Dondlinger that confirmed Jones’ story about acting on direction from him.

In addition to her phone, an iPad was taken from Jones as evidence; two iPhones were taken from Dondlinger at the time of his arrest.

Jones is charged with the following:

• Aggravated sexual assault of a child, first-degree felony
• Indecency with child by sexual contact, second-degree felony
• Indecency with child by sexual contact, second-degree felony
• Possession of child pornography >500 visual depictions, first-degree felony

Her bond is set at $90,000.

Dondlinger’s bond was increased to $250,000.

Both are currently in custody at Ellis County Jail at the time of this writing.