Police: Amarillo man’s relationship with former teacher led to daily abuse of child

MIDLOTHIAN, Texas (KFDA) - More criminal charges have been filed against an Amarillo man and his girlfriend, a former substitute teacher.

Law enforcement arrested Zackery Harold Dondlinger and Madison Paige Jones in December on multiple counts of sexual abuse of a child.

On Monday, an Ellis County grand jury voted there was enough evidence to formally charge Dondlinger with:

• Promoting sexual performance of a child, first-degree felony
• Possession with intent to promote child pornography depicting child sexual assault, first-degree felony
• Two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, second-degree felony
• Three counts of indecency with a child by exposure, third-degree felony
• 13 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, first-degree felony

His bond has increased from $200,000 to $5,000,000.

His girlfriend, a former substitute teacher for Midlothian Independent School District, Madison Paige Jones is indicted for:

• Possession of Child Pornography, more than 500 visual depictions, first-degree felony
• Two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, second-degree felony
• Three counts of indecency with a child by exposure, third-degree felony
• 13 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, first-degree felony

Her bond has increased from $90,000 to $3,840,000.

Both Dondlinger and Jones are in custody at Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Ellis County.

Dondlinger is a native of Happy, Texas and has lived in the Amarillo area.

Midlothian Police Department said they arrested Jones on Dec. 19 after a woman reported a potential sexual assault involving a child.

The woman 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 affidavits obtained by NewsChannel10, Jones informed officers that Dondlinger had sexual fantasies about the child and directed her to send videos to him via Snapchat to fulfill them.

Officers obtained warrants to seize the electronic devices belonging to Jones and Dondlinger.

Two phones were taken from Dondlinger at the time of his arrest. An iPad was also given to law enforcement by a relative of Jones who no longer wanted it at their home after learning about the criminal investigation.

On Jones’ phone, the affidavit shows that a message from Dondlinger confirmed Jones’ story about acting on his direction.

The indictments for Jones and Dondlinger show that the offenses are dated as taking place almost daily from Dec. 5 through Dec. 17.

The offenses involve a single child.

At the time of her arrest, Jones was a substitute teacher for Midlothian Independent School District.

Shortly after the news of the criminal investigation was released, Midlothian ISD put out a statement saying Jones was no longer employed by them and provided the last dates she worked as a substitute.