A California couple faces dozens of felony charges following an investigation into the treatment of an 11-year-old girl who was found living in an unheated garage and a backyard. Priscilla Mestaz, 37, and Anthony Machuca, 36, of Salida, are currently being held on $1 million bail each after a criminal complaint filed by the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office detailed a year of alleged physical and psychological torment.
The case broke open on January 31, 2026, when the young girl refused to return to the couple’s home, telling Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies that her aunt, Mestaz, was physically abusing her. Investigators quickly determined the child had been under the couple’s care since the summer of 2024.
Detectives with the Special Victims Unit executed search warrants at the residence, where they discovered interior and exterior surveillance cameras…