Two Texas sisters accused of physically restraining, beating and enslaving a 12-year-old girl – who investigators said the pair had helped from a previous abusive situation – have been indicted on federal charges, according to court records.
Tania Evette Garcia, 37, and Brenda Mariana Garcia, 39, are both charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of forced labor, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced in a Monday, February 9, news release.
Brenda’s federal defense attorney, Guy Lee Womack, did not immediately return Us Weekly’s request for comment. A federal defense attorney was not immediately listed for Tania in court records viewed by Us on Tuesday, February 10.
The federal case comes after the sisters, both from Conroe, were first arrested by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on state charges after deputies said they responded to a call about a 12-year-old who shared that she had been physically and sexually abused, according to an October 6 news release shared by the agency.
An affidavit in support of a federal criminal complaint reveals alleged details of the severe abuse Tania and Brenda are accused of inflicting on the girl, who was found walking alone, seeking help, on a street in Splendora, Texas, on September 28, according to investigators.
A witness discovered the girl “malnourished, injured, and wearing a zip-tie around her wrist” that day, the affidavit says.
The girl told a Montgomery County deputy that she had just escaped Brenda and Tania’s home, where she had been beaten by the sisters for the past six months, according to the affidavit.
In a forensic interview, the girl said that she had been living with her maternal great uncle before she was allegedly abused by the sisters, the affidavit says.
In March 2025, the girl told a family friend, who was Brenda’s daughter, that her uncle had been sexually abusing her since she was 6 years old, according to the filing.
Afterward, Brenda, Brenda’s daughter and Tania worked together to “remove [the] girl from her uncle’s household after they obtained photographic evidence of the abuse,” the affidavit says.
The girl started living with Brenda and Tania later that month, according to the affidavit.
About two months later, in May 2025, Brenda took her to meet a Harris County deputy to discuss the alleged sexual abuse she experienced from her uncle and another relative, the affidavit says.
Her uncle, according to authorities, is charged with continuous sexual assault of a child in Harris County.
Further information on his criminal case was not immediately available. It was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney.
After Brenda took the girl to speak with a deputy in May 2025, the girl said Brenda hit her “for the first time because, according to Brenda GARCIA, [her] statements to the officer were ‘contradictory,’” the affidavit says.
Following the girl’s report, Brenda allegedly told a Child Protective Services caseworker that the girl was “sent back to Honduras,” where the girl’s mother lived, according to the affidavit.
Brenda “then told [the girl] that now no one would be looking for her anymore,” the affidavit says.
The girl told investigators that she was then repeatedly abused by Brenda and her sister over the next several months, and was barely given food to eat, according to the filing.
She “reported that she was beaten with cords, laptop chargers, a cane, and sticks by both Brenda and Tania,” who are accused of forcing her “to strip naked during many of the beatings.”
The sisters are accused of filming and taking photos of the abuse.
The girl also shared with investigators that she was routinely zip-tied and had to do extensive household chores as a method of punishment, according to the affidavit.
“In short, Brenda and Tania GARCIA treated [her] as a slave and forced her to work inside the residence and outside, cleaning and maintaining the livestock and property,” the affidavit says.
If both women are convicted in the federal case, they would each face a potential sentence of life in prison, according to federal prosecutors.
Defense attorneys separately representing Tania and Brenda in their state criminal cases did not immediately return requests for comment.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
