A Florida church and a regional body of the Assemblies of God are facing a new lawsuit claiming they failed to protect children from abuse at a congregation-sponsored summer camp.
The Fort Lauderdale-based Horowitz Law firm announced last week that it’s suing Ignite Life Center and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God.
The complaint, filed in the Orange County Circuit Court, alleges that in July 2018, a then-10-year-old girl was sexually abused during the Ignite Summer Internship program operated by Ignite Life and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God.
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The alleged abuse happened months after the defendants had reportedly been informed that, in a separate case, a minor girl had been arrested for sexually abusing multiple children in February 2018.
This marks the fifth time attorneys at the Horowitz Law firm have filed a suit related to allegations of abuse at the church-led summer camp, according to the firm’s announcement.
The Christian Post reached out to Ignite Life Church and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God for this article; however, neither entity returned comment by press time.
In recent years, multiple individuals who were involved in the Ignite Life Church’s summer camp have been arrested over allegations of abusing children participating in the program.
Gabriel Hemenez, a former member of Ignite Life who had volunteered at the summer camp, was arrested in 2023 for alleged inappropriate touching of three minors and an adult in 2021.
Hemenez was charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and one count of attempted sexual battery of a minor. He confessed to those crimes, News4Jax reported.
In March of last year, Hemenez pled guilty to two counts of felony lewd and lascivious conduct with two boys, and received a five-year prison sentence, along with eight years of probation and a lifetime designation as a registered sex offender.
Other arrests tied to the church include Christian David Vargas, who was arrested in July 2023, and Noel Cruz, who was taken into custody in February 2024, according to The Alachua Chronicle. Both men were charged with lewd or lascivious battery on a victim younger than 16, while Vargas was also charged with lewd or lascivious conduct by an adult.
Ignite Life and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God faced three lawsuits filed in March 2024, with them being settled last October through mediation. The terms of the settled agreements were kept sealed.
