A Pennsylvania home became the center of a disturbing investigation after children told authorities they were forced to choose how they would be punished: with a belt, or with a gun.

Maria Roche, 31, is facing multiple felony charges, including aggravated assault on a victim under 13 and endangering the welfare of children, after police say she subjected children in her home to repeated physical abuse and violent threats. Her boyfriend, William Witherspoon, has also been charged with endangering the welfare of children.

According to the Harrisburg Bureau of Police, the case began with a report from a 12-year-old child that prompted Dauphin County Children and Youth Services to visit the home on Cloverly Road on February 17. During that visit, Roche allegedly admitted that firearms were kept inside the home, raising immediate concern and leading to police involvement.

What investigators say they uncovered in the weeks that followed was a pattern of escalating abuse.

In interviews conducted on March 20, children in the home described punishments that involved both physical violence and psychological terror. Roche is accused of forcing children to choose between being beaten with a belt or threatened with a gun—what one child described as being made to pick “the gun or the belt.”

In one of the most alarming allegations, a child told investigators that Roche instructed another child to retrieve a firearm and then attempted to shoot one of their siblings in the head. The shot reportedly missed, striking a wall instead.

Other accounts describe Roche using a gun to intimidate and physically harm the children. On one occasion, she allegedly shoved the barrel of a firearm between a child’s eyes. In another, a child said he was struck with a belt across his neck, arms, and back.

Police also allege that Witherspoon did not intervene. Instead, he is accused of watching the abuse unfold and laughing as Roche carried out the punishments.

Children in the home eventually directed investigators to where firearms were hidden—under Roche’s bed—further corroborating their accounts, authorities said.

Officials have not clarified the exact relationship between the defendants and the children, but the charges reflect the severity of the alleged harm and the vulnerability of the victims.

Both Roche and Witherspoon were arrested Friday and booked into Dauphin County Prison. Court records indicate their case has since been transferred, though their next court date has not yet been publicly scheduled.

The investigation remains ongoing.