Couple from Arizona arrested after sexually abusing minor girl and stashing recorded videos in iCloud storage
A seven-year-old girl was sexually abused time and again by a couple from Arizona. Law enforcement authorities found videos of the pair assaulting the minor in an iCloud account owned by the boyfriend. Both 40-year-old Matthew Dunlap and 36-year-old Marisa Anne Claire were arrested by the police on May 11, reported Fox News.
As authorities scoured through the cloud storage, they found eight videos of the couple sexually harassing the girl between October 2016 - 17. Dunlap confessed while in custody that the abuse took place roughly twice a week, although his relationship to the child is unclear. Authorities reported that she is known to him.
At the time of her arrest, Claire had been working as a crossing guard for the Esperanza Elementary School.
That being said, the couple is still being held in Maricopa County Jail on $150,000 bonds. Both cannot be released from jail until electronic monitoring equipment has been installed. Claire is said to have appeared in two of the eight videos including one which was filmed in July 2016, according to court documents obtained by Daily Mail.
On the other hand, Dunlap appeared on all eight of them which were filmed over the course of a year.
It was only recently that the couple, which has been together for several years, started living in together. Dunlap is unemployed while Claire holds her security job at the school.
Prior to his arrest, Dunlap tried to run to Phoenix, away from Sedona, where the couple resides. However, he was caught by authorities before he could bolt.
In a post on his social media account from June 2015, Dunlap has been seen referring to a prior prison sentence. His comment in response to someone asking how he’s been was: “Working hard and doing all the right things so I don’t go back to prison. 3 years isn’t much but it was enough for me. How about you?”
He had been convicted of an attempt to commit trafficking in stolen property (two counts) and theft. He was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
The duo was individually charged with Claire facing two counts of sexual conduct with a minor, a count of child molestation, and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. In the meanwhile, Dunlap has been charged with 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a count of child molestation, and eight counts of sexual conduct with a minor. The next hearing is scheduled for May 18th.
Both are known to spend time with other children and one can see quite a few photographs of them with kids on their social media profiles. Child Protective Services were notified of the couple's arrest last week. Having said that, it is uncertain as to what led law enforcement to track down and search Dunlap's cloud account.
A commenter on Claire's social account seemed to be angry and demanded that his daughter's picture be taken down from the page and his comments also indicated that the girl may have been subject to abuse from the couple.
After Claire was arrested for the said acts, Esperanza Elementary School issued a letter to parents and patrons insisting that the cross-walk guard had passed background checks before being hired. She was reportedly hired by the Deer Valley Unified School District a month ago. "It is important to point out that the alleged crime did not occur on our campus. This staff member passed all of the required background checks during the hiring process," the letter read.
A number of release conditions have been listed for Claire and Dunlap in the court documents. They include a ban on any contact with minors with no exceptions.