Woman accused of tying up and abusing children who escaped, ran to a neighbor for help

PHOENIX (KPHO/Gray News) - A woman in Arizona is facing several charges after being accused of tying up children and abusing them in a Phoenix-area apartment.

Phoenix police said three children under the age of 16 ran to a neighbor for help after escaping an apartment where they’d been tied up and beaten.

Detectives arrested Sarah Canez on child abuse and kidnapping charges.

Now, a father says his children were also staying with Canez and he is currently looking for his kids after her arrest.

“I’m scared for all of them, but I’m just really trying to go find my children,” the unidentified man said.

Arizona’s Family said its team met the man, who they are not identifying, knocking on the door of where Canez lived on Thursday.

He said he was unaware she had been arrested for child abuse earlier this week.

The man said his children, ages 3 and 6 years old, were staying with Canez, who is their aunt.

“I thought everything was going good. They had really nice bunk beds for them all. It looked like everything was going well for her,” the man said.

The bunk beds were mentioned in court documents, where authorities said Canez had the kids zip-tied to them.

According to police, the three children who escaped told them that the abuse entailed being struck with a gun, tased in their private parts, choked, beaten, and nearly suffocated with plastic bags.

The children also told officers that Canez said she was going to kill them.

The father who spoke to Arizona’s Family on Thursday said he had planned to pick up his own kids and give Canez money to help with all the child care after receiving his paycheck.

“I’ve been trying to call them all week just to see how they’re doing and see if they’re ready to come home but there has been no answer,” he said.

Phoenix police said the father’s kids were also taken in by the Arizona Department of Child Safety.

The father said as he is working to reunite with his children, he is worried they may have also been abuse victims.

“I wouldn’t even want to describe publicly how I would feel if they were harmed,” he said.

Canez faces 12 counts of child abuse, five counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of kidnapping.

She’s being held on a $250,000 cash-only bond.

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