Arizona Mom Arrested After Telling Cops She Was Leaving Kids to Be a Stripper

June 15, 2010— -- An Arizona mom was arrested as she packed up for a future as a California stripper because she intended to leave her two young children behind, police said today.

And when her 11-year-old son tried to hug her before their separation, she made a fist and punched him in the stomach, according to police reports.

That's when the cops arrested her.

Police in Surprise, Ariz., were called to the house by Christina Muniz's 11-year-old son at 9 a.m. on June 11. He said his mother was leaving him behind along with his 6-year-old brother.

"The boy stated his mom is in the house packing with her boyfriend, and that she is going to California without them," Sgt. Mark Ortega, of the Surprise police department told ABC News.

"When he (the child) told her not to go, she said she was going to beat him. This is the call coming in from the child," Ortega said.

Police said the woman, 29, was abandoning her two boys because she said she was sick of them, and wanted to finally be able to pursue her dream of becoming a stripper.

When police arrived they were met by the 11-year-old, and they said that Muniz came out of their apartment allegedly laughing at her son, exclaiming she couldn't believe he called the police on her.

"She said she was tired of having the kids, she needed a break and didn't want them. She told the officer on the scene, Officer Robert Burtrum, 'Do what you need to do to get them out of here,'" Ortega said.

Muniz allegedly told the officer she needed to go out and play without them, he wrote in his report.

The officer took the 11-year-old a short distance away from Muniz to speak to him in private and the full scale of the alleged emotional abuse he and his brother were dealing with became clear, Ortega said.

"Burtrum asked Muniz if he could speak to the boys alone, and she told him it was fine and to take them when he was done," Ortega said.

"The boy told the officer that she was always telling him things like that, that she didn't want him, that he was ugly, that he had buckteeth and that she just wanted him to leave," Ortega said.

According to Ortega, when Burtrum asked the boy if he believed his mother would leave him like that, the boy told him yes.