Woman allegedly used hair straightening iron to burn children’s 'buttocks, thigh, and genital areas'
01/24/2023 3:02 pm PST
DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (TCD) -- A 19-year-old woman faces multiple charges after allegedly sexually abusing and torturing four victims, ages 7 to 13.
According to the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, Anais Munoz moved in with the family of the victims in 2020, and the alleged abuse ensued for two years.
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Munoz "sought to inflict physical pain on these children" by "choking them with cords, beating them with a bat, or ‘branding’ them with a straightening iron."
Stollsteimer added that Munoz inflicted the torture to "control her young victims" and to "keep them from revealing her heinous conduct and to get their cooperation in providing her with sexual pleasure."
Additionally, Munoz reportedly used the children to help her get drugs.
The Chester Police Department responded to the home on West 8th Street to a report of child abuse, and the victims were interviewed on Jan. 5, the District Attorney’s Office said. They were also reportedly given physical examinations.
The children said Munoz inflicted the abuse using multiple objects, including a "lighter, hammer, torch, cords, hangers, computer, blades, knives, etc. A hair straightener was repeatedly used on the two oldest victims, burning their buttocks, thigh, and genital areas," according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The two oldest victims were allegedly "coerced into providing the defendant sexual pleasure." The sexual abuse occurred late at night while the victims’ parents were sleeping, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Although most of the physical abuse happened to the two oldest children, the younger victims were reportedly witnesses to the alleged acts.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Munoz threatened to torture the victims more if they told their mother about the abuse, and the children would then lie to their mother about their apparent injuries.
Munoz is reportedly in custody in New Jersey and will be extradited back to Delaware County on Wednesday, Jan. 25. She faces multiple charges, including child endangerment, aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and sexual assault.
In a statement, Stollsteimer said, "The discovery of this horrific abuse is the result of the excellent police work of the Chester Police Department, particularly Officer Jennifer Jones and Captain El’lan Morgan. Without their help, the abuse might have continued into 2023."
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