MCKINNEY, Texas — A Collin County man whose victim disclosed his sexual abuse in a letter to God has been sentenced to 35 years in prison, officials said.
Mark Elliott Jones, 49, of McKinney, was convicted on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, according to a news release from the Collin County District Attorney's Office.
Jones sexually abused two children, who were 10 and 14, over a period of several years, prosecutors said.
Authorities learned of the abuse after the parents of one of the children found a letter she wrote to God, detailing the abuse. The parents told law enforcement about the letter, and investigators later learned of a second child who had been abused.
Both children also detailed the abuse in interviews with the Children's Advocacy Center of Collin County, officials said.
A jury found Jones guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child. Judge Andrea Thompson sentenced Jones to 35 years in prison. Jones will not be eligible for parole.
“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. "But to learn that this predator sexually traumatized not one but two innocent children is simply unbearable."