LINDEN, Texas - A former employee of a federal prison in Texarkana was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for the continuous sexual abuse of a child.
Christopher Allen Wooding, 44, a former employee of the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, pleaded guilty Monday in Cass County to sexually abusing a young girl who lived in his home. According to Cass County District Attorney Courtney Shelton, Wooding began abusing the girl on Super Bowl Sunday, 2016, during the years she was attending middle school.
Christopher Wooding is related to the girl by marriage.
Christopher Wooding's wife, Jessica Elaine Wooding, has been charged with child endangerment for failing to report the abuse. Jessica Wooding is a former employee of the Barry Telford Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in New Boston, Texas, and charges against her remain pending.
"The child stated that Jessica Wooding told her that if they were to report the abuse, it would wreck their lives," Shelton said.
The girl made an outcry of abuse to a different family member Feb. 3, 2020, and was interviewed the following day at the Texarkana Children's Advocacy Center. The girl reported that she was sexually abused by Wooding repeatedly.
"On several occasions, she would catch him outside her bathroom window taking pictures of her with his cellphone while she was naked in the shower," Shelton said.
Cass County Sheriff's Office Investigator Sabrina Sartor obtained a search warrant for Christopher Wooding's home.
"At that location she was able to locate a number of electronic devices, including at least five covert recording devices, one of which was disguised to look like a smoke detector," Shelton said. "In those devices, video footage that Christopher Wooding recorded outside of the bathroom depicting the child in the bathroom was located. Other video was located in which Christopher Wooding was recording his wife using the bathroom."
Other videos recorded by Wooding included footage of young girls walking around in public places.
Under Texas law, there is no parole possible from any sentence imposed for continuous sexual abuse of a child. Christopher Wooding will be 69 when he has served his sentence.