Editor’s note: This article contains details involving sexual assault
Naason Joaquin Garcia, leader of the global La Luz del Mundo megachurch, who is already serving a 16-year, eight-month state sentence in California for the sexual assault of three minors, is facing new federal charges alleging that he sexually exploited women and children in the church for generations.
“NAASÓN’s exploitation of the church and its members follows a deeply disturbing tradition established by his father (Samuel Joaquín Flores) and his grandfather (Eusebio Joaquín González, known as “Aarón”), who founded the church in Guadalajara, Mexico, in approximately 1926,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a release about the new charges against Joaquin Garcia, 56, on Wednesday.
“Beginning with Aarón and continuing with Samuel and then NAASÓN, each member of the Joaquín family who has served as the leader or ‘Apostle’ has taken advantage of his position of power and control over the LLDM Church to sexually abuse, exploit, and rape its congregants,” prosecutors allege. “Each leader manipulated girls and young women by conveying that they could earn a special ‘blessing’ by serving him, which often ultimately included sexual activity, including oral sex, manual stimulation, and ultimately, penetrative sex with the victims. This abuse occurred over the course of generations.”
Also indicted along with Joaquin Garcia, according to a 31-page filing in Manhattan federal court, are his 79-year-old mother, Eva García de Joaquín, his 37-year-old nephew, Joram Núñez Joaquín, and three other suspects who are believed to be at-large in Mexico: Rosa Sosa, 59; Azalia Rangel García, 46; and Silem García Peña, 43.
The defendants are accused of using the church as a vehicle for the sex trafficking of women and children; to induce victims, including children, to travel to engage in forced and unlawful sex acts; to produce, receive, distribute, and possess child pornography; to employ forced labor of Church members; to illegally structure cash transactions and bulk cash smuggling; and to obstruct justice to hide their crimes.
“NAASÓN, the leader of the Enterprise, managed a close circle of co-conspirators who facilitated his abuse of teenagers and young women. NAASÓN also directed his co-conspirators to produce images and videos of child sexual abuse and send them to him for his own sexual gratification,” prosecutors said in their release.
“Law enforcement has seized many of these images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of minors that were created at NAASÓN’s direction. NAASÓN also instructed co-conspirators to select young teenagers in his church for abuse and to systematically introduce the minors to NAASÓN’s illegal sexual desires through personal interactions with NAASÓN under the guise of Church activities.”
Though the church is headquartered in Mexico, it has locations across the U.S., including in California, New York, Nevada, Texas, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
All the defendants were charged with racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison, except for Núñez Joaquín and García Peña, who are facing a maximum of 20 years in prison for that charge.
Joaquin Garcia, Sosa, Rangel Garcia, and his mother are also facing a life sentence for sex trafficking conspiracy. The pastor and Rangel Garcia were also charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion; inducement to travel to engage in unlawful sexual activity, conspiracy to sexually exploit children, and child exploitation enterprise. All these charges carry maximum penalties of ranging from decades to life in prison.
“As alleged in the Indictment, for decades, Naasón Joaquín García and the other members of the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise used their position in and the resources of the La Luz Del Mundo Church to sexually abuse girls, boys, and women,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
“They exploited the faith of their followers to prey upon them. When they were confronted, they leveraged their religious influence and financial power to intimidate and coerce victims into remaining silent about the abuse they had suffered. The Indictment includes charges against those who systemically aided Naasón’s alleged sexual exploitation of teenagers and young women, including creating photos and videos of abuse and other unspeakable criminal conduct.
“We commend the victims who have come forward for their extraordinary courage and desire to bring an end to decades of abuse. This Office will hold Naasón and others who aided this alleged abuse fully accountable.”
In a statement to The New York Times, Joaquin Garcia’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, categorically denied the allegations against his client.
“We reject the grotesque portrait painted by the government and its allies,” he said. “In this country, every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That principle cannot be eroded simply because the government chooses to smear a church and its leaders with accusations it cannot prove.”
Authorities stated in a letter to a Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday that they searched a home belonging to Joaquin Garcia and his mother in East Los Angeles and found more than $1 million in cash, along with evidence of sex crimes, including straps used as a sex swing. They also found a sex toy similar to those seen in child pornography images and videos created at the pastor’s direction, according to prosecutors.
The investigation remains ongoing and authorities are urging anyone who has been victimized by the defendants or have any information about their alleged illegal behavior to call 212-637-1033 or email USANYS.LLDM@usdoj.gov.
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