FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The couple met through their use of methamphetamine. Then the drug use led to involving children.

The three victims, including at least one boy, were included in sex, using sex toys and using drugs, court documents said.

As of Tuesday, Donald Dustin Cornett, 43, aka Dusty Cornett, an admitted serial child molester whose address is listed in the 700 block of West Creighton Avenue, is facing several related charges in Allen Superior Court.

He was charged with felony 1 child molesting, the highest state felony, and felony 4 child molesting, child pornography possession, child exploitation and performing sex acts in the presence of a minor. His court hearing on the case is scheduled for Wednesday.

Jennifer K. Knowles, 36, at the same West Creighton Avenue address, will answer to performing sex acts in the presence of a minor, neglect of a dependent and methamphetamine possession.

• 

• 

Cornett was sitting in the Allen County Jail when he wrote to the Allen County prosecutor confessing to being a “serial pedophile” who was responsible for a “string of unreported molestings,” according to court documents. He noted they were federal crimes.

Cornett had been arrested on a domestic charge and there was an outstanding warrant for failure to register as a sex or violent offender, with a prior conviction.

The letter, dated Oct. 25, 2021, was turned over to Sgt. Todd Battershell, a sex crime investigator with the Fort Wayne Police Department.

In the letter, Cornett claimed that Knowles gave the victims methamphetamine and “initiated and encouraged him to molest” one of the victims, court documents said.

In November, during Cornett’s interview with Battershell, Cornett said he’d molested at least eight children in three different states. Cornett told a case manager with the Department of Child Services that the matter was “extremely hard for him to talk about, but it was the right thing to do,” court documents said.

Cornett claimed he and Knowles became addicted to meth and would watch “Daddy-daughter” porn together, according to court documents.

The first victim the two allegedly groomed was a young girl whose age was not disclosed in the probable cause affidavit written by Battershell. Cornett said the girl was “bribed” into sexual activities with them, including touching. The two would engage in sexual intercourse and allow the victim to watch them, court documents said.

Cornett also confessed to molesting this victim numerous times over the past year and a half, court documents said.

Cornett said the molestings would occur when he and Knowles were high on meth, court documents said. Although the drugs were kept in a safe, Cornett said Knowles gave the boy meth hoping to get him diagnosed with autism “so she could obtain money from the state of Indiana,” according to court documents.

While Battershell was interviewing Cornett, he received a message that the boy had tested positive for fentanyl.

In her own interview, Knowles said she watched Cornett filming the victims, nude and prepubescent, on “numerous electronic devices,” court documents said. The phones used were a Galaxy Note 9 and Samsung 10.

Knowles claimed she argued with Cornett when he left the bedroom door open intentionally so the victims could see them engaging in sex acts, the court documents said.

A warrant was issued for Knowles’ arrest.