Trial Continues: Waco Attorney Faces Accusations of Continuous Sexual Abuse of 'The Perfect Victim'

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Waco attorney Adam Hoffman bought his son’s best friend a cell phone equipped with a privacy network, sent the boy numerous improper text messages and took advantage of “the perfect victim” by sexually abusing him over a three-year period, an assistant attorney general told jurors Monday.

The alleged victim’s mother opened testimony Monday in Waco’s 54th State District Court. Hoffman, 48, is on trial on a first-degree felony charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child. The boy’s mother will continue her testimony when the trial resumes Tuesday morning.

Brenda Cantu and Dorian Cotlar of the Texas Attorney General’s Office and Hoffman’s attorneys, Gerry Morris and Angelica Cogliano, both of Austin, and Stan Schwieger, of Waco, spent most of Monday selecting a jury of six women and six men, plus two women alternate jurors, to hear Hoffman’s trial.

Hoffman is charged with sexually abusing his son’s best friend during sleepovers at Hoffman’s China Spring residence from April 2019 to April 2022, beginning with the boy was 7.

The attorney general’s office is prosecuting the case because Hoffman conferred with then defense attorney Josh Tetens after Hoffman’s arrest and before Tetens was elected McLennan County district attorney.

Cotlar told jurors in opening statements that Hoffman took advantage of the fact that the boy’s father, a drug addict, was in prison and that the boy and his mother moved from West to China Spring in November 2018, taking the boy away from his home, his friends and his school.

Hoffman and his son took the boy on family trips to amusement parks and other locations, while Hoffman helped coach his son and the boy during Taekwondo lessons.

Hoffman bought the boy a phone and installed a Virtual Private Network (VPN), an encrypted connection over the internet that allows users to securely access a private network or the internet.

“I want you to pay attention to the content and sheer volume of text messages between this grown man and that boy,” Cotlar told the jury.

In his opening, Morris said Hoffman bought the boy a phone so he could reach his mother because she worked and had started to date again after divorcing the boy’s father. The boy, who is now 13, reported he kept track of each time Hoffman ejaculated during the alleged abuse and said it totaled about 1,340 times, Morris said, telling jurors the staggering figure is beyond belief. The boy said he kept track of the abuse on his phone, but deleted it, Morris said.

Morris said the boy only reported the alleged abuse by Hoffman after his mother caught him pulling down the pants of his younger cousin in a swimming pool and while appearing to be about to perform a sex act on him.

The boy’s mother insisted that her son tell her where he learned such behavior, and that’s when he said he learned it from Hoffman, Morris said.

“All of a sudden, he’s not in trouble anymore…” Morris said. “All of a sudden, he’s the victim and all attention turns to Adam,” Morris told the jury.

Morris also said authorities found pornography on the boy’s phone depicting a similar act that it appeared he was about to perform on his young cousin.

The boy’s mother opened trial testimony late Monday afternoon by telling the jury she met the boy’s father in a rehab facility while they both were being treated for methamphetamine addiction.

They divorced about six years later after her husband returned to his old, destructive habits, and she and her son moved to China Spring so she could care for her mother, she testified.

She said her son couldn’t understand why he was not allowed to see his father after they separated in 2018 and he began acting out in school, ignoring assignments and falling into a depression and saying he wanted to die.

“He lost everything,” she said. “He didn’t understand why he couldn’t be with his dad, he didn’t understand why he couldn’t take his cats, and he lost his home, his school and his friends… I asked him what would make him smile again and he said he wanted to be a ninja.”

She signed him up for Taekwondo classes in China Spring, and that’s where her son met Hoffman and his son, who is a year older than her son, she said. The boys quickly became best friends and spent a lot of time together, including a lot of sleepovers at Hoffman’s home, she said.

She said Hoffman volunteered to help her secure a protective order against her estranged husband and eventually represented her in the divorce.

She was about to recount the story of seeing her son in the swimming pool with his younger cousin at her sister’s house in May 2022 when the trial recessed for the day.

Following the boy’s outcry against Hoffman, he underwent forensic interviews and a medical examination.