Waurika man pleads to sexual assault of Burkburnett child
Editor’s Note: This content contains details about the sexual assault of a person under age 18. If you know or suspect that anyone under 18 is being sexually or physically abused, call the Texas child abuse hotline at 1-800-252-5400. To learn more about how to identify signs of child abuse or neglect, click here.
Cody Atwood, 30, will go to prison for 18 years for the sexual assault of a young child.
Atwood pleaded guilty Friday in 30th District Court to three counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a child.
He initially had been charged with 11 counts related to sexual abuse of the child in incidents that began in 2014 when the child was four. When the child was eight, they told a forensic interviewer the Waurika, Oklahoma, man came into their bedroom and told them they were going to play the “food game.”
In affidavits filed in the case, the child described a game during which Atwood sought to trick the child into giving him oral sex. He would blindfold the child and bind their hands behind their back during the ruse.
But the child could see under the blindfold at times. Once, the blindfold fell off, and Atwood was standing in front of the child naked.
The child said Atwood used pajama bottoms to cover their eyes and a belt or rope to tie their hands, which the child said was painful.
Atwood could have faced up to life in prison on the charges.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Waurika man pleads to sexual assault of Burkburnett child
