A family services caseworker and her boyfriend have been accused of torturing an 11-year-old girl in their care, starving, strangling and forcing her to wear a dog leash.

Priscilla Mestaz and her partner Anthony Machuca are now facing 27 felony and misdemeanor charges including torture, conspiracy to commit torture, child endangerment under circumstances to cause great bodily injury or death and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the alleged abuse, according a statement from the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office.

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The investigation began Jan. 31 after deputies received a report of an 11-year-old refusing to return to the home she shared with Mestaz, who was her aunt as well as a case manager with a child and family services organization The victim, who wasn’t identified in the sheriff’s statement, told deputies that she was being physically abused.

Deputies and detectives with the department’s special victims unit contacted Mestaz, who said her niece had been living with her and Machuca since the summer of 2024, according to authorities.

During the investigation, the sheriff’s office said they obtained a search warrant and discovered surveillance cameras at the house that “corroborated statements made by the victim.”

They also determined, per the statement, that the girl had been primarily living in an uninsulated and unheated garage in the backyard, “leaving the child exposed to unsafe temperatures year-found.”

According to a criminal compliant filed March 16 by the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office, which was referenced in the sheriff’s statement, the girl was also subjected to severe physical abuse between January 2025 and January 2026 that included “strangulation, punching and slapping.”  The couple is also accused of “withholding adequate nutrition” from the victim, causing her to be “malnourished” and forcing her to complete “strenuous physical exercise” or be threatened with assault, according to the compliant.

The victim was also restrained and dragged with a dog leash and subjected to “sustained verbal abuse,” prosecutors said.

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Machuca was arrested the day deputies made their initial contact, but Mestaz—who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy—was not arrested until March 12, after she’d given birth, the sheriff’s office said.

The baby and another 4-year-old child living in the home were taken into custody by the Stanislaus County Child Protective Services.

The sheriff’s office said its possible additional charges could be filed against the pair as they continue to review the digital evidence in the case.

Both defendants are currently being held on $1 million bail after detectives completed a bail enhancement in the case.

They are both scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on March 26, according to court records reviewed by Oxygen.com. An attorney was not listed in the records for Mestaz. Oxygen.com reached out to Machuca’s attorney Joseph Cox, but did not receive an immediate response.