MODESTO – A family-services case manager and her partner have been arrested on multiple charges of child abuse – including torture and mental abuse – against an 11-year-old girl in their custody.
Priscilla Mestaz, who works at a Modesto-based family services agency, and Anthony Machuca, both of Salida, were arraigned Monday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
The couple are charged with felony child endangerment, child neglect, child abuse, criminal conspiracy and making criminal threats. Mestaz was also charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury.
A criminal complaint alleges that the abuse took place between January 2025 and January 2026. Among the acts referenced are repeated physical abuse, including strangulation, punching, slapping, forcing the child to sleep in an unfinished garage without bedding or heat during winter months; forcing the child to wear a diaper, withholding adequate nutrition that caused the child to become malnourished; forcing the child to perform strenuous physical exercise to the point of exhaustion under threat of assault; restraining and dragging the child with a dog leash; and subjecting the child to sustained verbal abuse and threats of injury.
The suspects are being held at the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center with bail set at $1 million. The victim is currently in foster care; Chief Deputy District Attorney Wendell Emerson said considering all she has been through the girl is doing well.
According to the criminal complaint, the couple is suspected of "inflicting extreme pain and suffering" on the girl, who is the daughter of a relative of Mestaz, for 13 months beginning in January 2025.
Two other children, a 4-year-old and a newborn, also were in the home.
Defense attorney Joseph Cox represented Mestaz and Machuca at Monday's hearing. He requested the arraignment be held over so Mestaz could secure her own attorney. Judge David Hood agreed and set another hearing for March 26 at 1:30 p.m.
According to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, the investigation began Jan. 31, when deputies responded to a report of an 11-year-old who was refusing to return home because her aunt had been physically abusing her. Deputies and detectives with the Special Victims Unit responded to the residence and contacted Mestaz, the child’s aunt, and Machuca. They identified that the child had been in their custody since the summer of 2024.
During a search of the property, authorities said, investigators located both interior and exterior surveillance cameras. The footage obtained from those cameras corroborated statements made by the victim. Investigators also found evidence indicating that the child had been living primarily in the garage and back yard. The garage was not a converted living space, lacking heating, air conditioning and insulation, leaving the child exposed to unsafe temperatures year-round.
Machuca was arrested at the time of the initial contact. Mestaz was not taken into custody at the time because she was pregnant. She was arrested March 12 following the birth of her child. The newborn and the 4-year-old were taken into protective custody by Stanislaus County Child Protective Services, which assisted with the investigation.
Due to the amount of digital evidence and any other evidence that may be identified, further investigation is being conducted to determine if further charges will be filed, authorities said.
Anyone with information related to this case is encouraged to contact Detective Alejandro Fuentes at (209) 525-7117 or anonymous tips may be submitted to Stanislaus County Area Crime Stoppers at stancrimetip.org or by calling 1-866-60-CRIME.
