HORRIFIED police found mummified remains and an altar to an "unknown deity" in the house of a man accused of sexually assaulting a child.

Cops raided the home of Robert Frank Williams, 53, in Newark, New Jersey after he was accused of abusing a 13-year-old girl over the period of several months last year.

1 Police found mummified remains in the home of Robert Frank Williams, 53 Credit: Essex County PD

During the raid, officers made a sickening discovery - a bin in a wardrobe full of mummified human remains and a "bizarre" religious altar in Williams' bedroom.

So far the remains have not been identified.

Authorities charged Williams with first-degree aggravated sexual assault for engaging in an act of penetration upon on a child younger than 13 years of age, as well as a barrage of other child sex charges.

He was also charged with second-degree desecration of human remains.

Officers say they are continuing to investigate the findings in Williams' home.

In the same area of New Jersey in 2002, a local woman who claimed to be a high priestess of the Palo Mayombe religion was found with pots of human remains in her basement, reports the New York Post.

Miriam Mirabal, 61, reportedly directed followers of a grave-robbing gang to collect human remains for her to use in rituals.

During her trial, the prosecutor is reported to have said: "[The ring] will never be smashed.

"They’re just lying low.

"Where they’re getting their remains from now, I don’t know."

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The main practice of Palo focuses upon the religious receptacle or altar known as "la Nganga," and the religion has been linked to a spate of grave-robbing controversies.

The religion was derived in Cuba but has its bases in the Congo, and followers believe in the veneration of spirits and natural, earthly powers.

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