Delco Woman Faces 200 Child Abuse, Rape Charges

This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing.

CHESTER, PA — A Delaware County woman is facing more than 200 charges after authorities said she used household items to choke, beat, and brand four children that she was also sexually abusing.

Anais Munoz is accused of abusing four children, who ranged in age from seven to 13, over a two-year period, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said on Tuesday.

The District Attorney's office said Munoz, 19, has been charged with child endangerment, aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, and related crimes. Court records show charges also include rape, rape of a child, and strangulation. Munoz was arrested Saturday in Passaic County, NJ and will likely be extradited to Pennsylvania on Wednesday, according to Stollsteimer's office.

The pattern of abuse began at the end of 2020 and included "multiple instances of physical and sexual abuse," officials said.

Chester police began investigating the case after receiving a report of child abuse at a residence, Stollsteimer said. Investigators spoke to the children at Children's Advocacy Center in Media on Jan. 5, and a child abuse pediatrician examined them.

The children told investigators that objects including a lighter, hammer, torch, hangers and cords were used to hurt them. The two oldest victims said that a hair straightener was used to burn their thigh, buttocks, and genital areas.

Munoz also used the children to help her buy drugs in Chester, Stollsteimer said.

“This is a truly horrifying case involving the physical and mental torture of young victims," Stollsteimer said. "Using a wide range of implements, the defendant sought to inflict physical pain on these children – whether by choking them with cords, beating them with a bat, or 'branding' them with a straightening iron."

The two oldest victims said they were coerced into sexual acts, prosecutors said. The sexual abuse happened late at night while the victims' parents were asleep, officials allege.

"While the majority of the physical abuse is alleged to have been inflicted on the two oldest victims, the younger victims were witnesses to, and able to corroborate, the allegations," officials said.

Munoz threatened the victims if they told their mother about the abuse, officials said, adding that she began living with the family of the victims in 2020, the year the reported abuse began.

"Using these implements of torture, the defendant sought to control her young victims – both to keep them from revealing her heinous conduct and to get their cooperation in providing her with sexual pleasure," Stollsteimer continued.

"These children will bear the physical and emotional scars of the defendant’s conduct for the rest of their lives," Stollsteimer said. "Sadly, we can’t undo this tragedy, but rest assured that we will do everything in our power to support these victims and to hold the defendant accountable."

Stollsteimer praised the work of the Chester Police Department, the Delaware County Child Abuse and Exploitation Task Force, the professionals at the Children’s Advocacy Center, and Dr. June Elcock-Messam.

This case will be assigned to the Children's Court under Magisterial District Judge Andrew Goldberg, Stollsteimer said.

Court records do not list an attorney for Munoz.