A former Texas substitute teacher and her boyfriend now face a total of 38 child sex crime charges and their bail is set at nearly $9 million.
Madison Paige Jones, a former Midlothian Independent School District substitute teacher, and her boyfriend, Zackery Dondlinger, were first arrested in December as Midlothian police investigated allegations involving a 5-year-old child who was living at Jones’ home.
Bond was initially set at $90,000 for Jones and $250,000 for Dondlinger, but their bonds were increased dramatically after additional charges were filed earlier this month.
Jones faces 13 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, one count of possession of child pornography, two counts of child molestation involving sexual contact and three counts of child molestation involving exposure.
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Madison Jones, 30, was arrested on December 19, 2025 by officers from the Midlothian Police Department.
(Fox News)
Dondlinger faces one count of sexual conduct with a child under 14, 13 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two counts of child molestation involving sexual contact, three counts of child molestation involving exposure and one felony warrant.
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Dondlinger’s bond is now set at $5 million, while Jones’ bond is set at $3.8 million.
NBC affiliate NewsChannel10 in Amarillo reported that court documents show Midlothian police were called to the home of a woman on Dec. 17 who claimed to be a friend of Jones.
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Zackery Dondlinger faces multiple child sex crimes in Ellis County, Texas.
The woman told police she was concerned about Dondlinger’s behavior toward a 5-year-old child at Jones’ home. Jones and Dondlinger were in a relationship at the time.
Jones allegedly told investigators that Dondlinger directed her to sexually assault the child and that she carried out the acts, documents show. The documents also state that Jones told authorities that Dondlinger had sexual fantasies about children.
The affidavit obtained by the station said Jones described the sexual acts to investigators and told police she recorded videos of the abuse and sent them to Dondlinger via Snapchat.
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A Texas substitute teacher was arrested and charged with multiple felonies, including aggravated sexual assault of a child on December 19, 2025.
Investigators later seized Jones’ iPhone while executing a search warrant, and an affidavit reportedly said the phone contained a message from Dondlinger supporting the claim that Jones was acting on his instructions. Authorities also seized an iPad from Jones and two iPhones from Dondlinger at the time of his arrest.
Jones was first arrested on Dec. 19 after police began investigating reports of a potential child sexual assault two days earlier.
Detectives later identified Dondelinger, 37, as the second suspect in the case, who was arrested Dec. 23 and charged with performing a sexual act on a child, according to the Midlothian Police Department.
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Midlothian police previously told Fox News Digital that Jones and Dondlinger had been dating.
Midlothian Independent School District said Jones is no longer employed by the district and confirmed she served as a substitute teacher four times last year. School officials also said they have no information indicating the charges are related to Jones’ work or occurred on school property.
Original source of the article: Former substitute teacher and boyfriend face 38 child sex charges, bail nearly $9 million