Man Arrested In Arizona After Allegedly Convincing Caregiver That He Had Down Syndrome

There is a truly bizarre case out of Arizona where Paul Menchaca, 30, is accused of an elaborate scheme to trick caregivers into bathing him and changing his diaper.  Menchaca allegedly convinced the women that he had Down syndrome to retain them for these uses.  The caregivers grew suspicious when Menchaca was often aroused during these procedures. He now faces novel counts of sexual abuse based on his alleged fraud.

The court documents describes a scheme using a national site called CareLinx that connects people with home care workers.  These women were contacted by “Amy” claiming to be Menchaca’s mother and told that her son had Down syndrome and “required diaper changes and assistance with bathing.” Prosecutors allege that Amy was always Menchaca himself.

The caregivers stated that Menchaca would object “aggressively” that his genitals “were not cleaned enough” in order to force them to clean him “more thoroughly.” There was also the suspicion that they never saw Amy and would be paid directly by Menchaca.

Eventually, one of the women followed Menchaca home and met his real parents who said that he did not have Down syndrome. Under the four-count felony complaint, Menchaca is accused of having sexual contact with the women through fraud.  Thus, while the women agreed to change his diapers and bath him, that did so under the misrepresentation that he was disabled.  Since that is untrue, they allege the contact was not consensual.

The charge is sexual abuse, not sexual assault.  Sexual abuse under A.R.S §13-1404 occurs when a person intentionally or knowingly engages in sexual contact with any person who is fifteen (15) or more years of age, without consent of that person. He is charged with a class five felony due to the fact that these were adults. For a first offense, the punishment can be probation with zero (0) days up to one (1) year in jail. However, he is facing multiple counts.