Child's Letter To God Helps Convict Man Who Sexually Abused Children For Years

A man from McKinney, Texas, was convicted on two counts of child sexual abuse after he was found engaging in continuous assault of young children for years. Mark Elliott Jones was sentenced Tuesday, to 35 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

The 49-year-old pedophile was caught when an innocent letter written by one of the victims, addressed to God, hinting at the abuse she faced was found by her father, CBS News reported.

Over the course of "several years" and with "ongoing access," Jones had frequently sexually abused both of his victims, who were 10 and 14 years old.

Additional information regarding the victim's connections to the defendant was withheld due to their age, the District Attorney's office said in a press release.

"It is a sad day in the community when we learn that a sexual predator has been abusing even one innocent child for years. But to learn that this predator sexually traumatized not one but two innocent children is simply unbearable," said District Attorney Greg Willis after announcing the sentence.

The McKinney Police Department received the initial complaint against Jones on June 6, 2019. After reading the statement by one of his victims, Jones was immediately taken into custody, Law and Crime reported.

The arrest helped expose the horrors tolerated by another child. Following an inquiry, the second accusation against Jones surfaced on June 18, 2019.

Zachary Craven, a detective with the McKinney Police Department, reviewed the evidence. Both the children narrated their experiences of ongoing abuse during the forensic interview at the Collin County Children's Advocacy Center, according to CBS news.

Jones was indicted for repeatedly sexually abusing a child under the age of 14 on one count. He was also charged with the offense of establishing indecent sexual contact with a minor. Jones entered a plea bargain in exchange for leniency and acknowledged his legal responsibility for the second accusation.

The minimum punishment for continuous sexual assault of children is 25 years in Texas. The defendant was given a total sentence of 35 years by Judge Andrea Thompson.