By: Juan Cooper / Noticias Telemundo Investiga
The white mask that protected him from the coronavirus prevented him from seeing the reaction of Naasón Joaquín García at the moment when Judge Ronald D. Coen ruled that there was enough evidence for the leader of La Luz del Mundo, and two of his alleged accomplices, to confront a trial on 36 criminal charges related to sex crimes.
Sitting on that same bench in a court in Los Angeles, California, and behind a transparent plastic panel of those that are being used during a pandemic, the self-proclaimed Apostle of Jesus Christ saw how during the last week California prosecutors officials went up to the stand to narrate some of the stark evidence that the prosecution has prepared.
The agents presented new testimonies from the John and Jane Does of the case, as it is known in the judicial field to the complainants or victims of crimes who do not wish to be identified. These are five women and two men who agree that they were minors when, according to their testimony, Naasón Joaquín García sexually abused them.
Leader of the La Luz del Mundo church this Wednesday in a hearing at the California Prosecutor's Office.Telemundo
Another part of the arsenal of evidence that the officers described was found in hundreds of videos and photos stored in multiple electronic devices confiscated in one of the residences of La Luz del Mundo in East Los Angeles, where, according to the prosecution, you can identify yourself with safety of the church leader and his accomplices participating in sexual acts with minors.
For there to be a trial, Naasón Joaquín García must declare himself innocent at the next hearing on September 1. It is expected that this will be the case, as it has been the position of the defense since the arrest of the evangelical leader in June 2019.
[A judge decides to bring to trial the leader of the church La Luz del Mundo]
Last year, the leader of La Luz del Mundo pleaded not guilty, but the case was dismissed last April due to a procedural error in the times stipulated by law. The process had to begin anew on August 6, when the judge issued a historic bond of $ 90 million and the prosecution filed seven new criminal charges against Naasón and the other two defendants, Alondra Ocampo and Susana Medina Oaxaca.
If, on the contrary, he pleaded guilty, negotiations would begin to reach an agreement with the judge, who would pass judgment on the case.
"The servant of God has sexual urges"
Troy Holmes, one of the California prosecutors in charge of collecting the evidence against Naasón, assured that two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviewed one of the victims in Waco, Texas, who appear in the pornographic videos found on a device belonging to Naasón Joaquín García.
This is a young man who, according to the agent, was 14 years old when the religious leader recorded the sexual act shown in the images, in which one of the accused, Azalea Rangel, also appears, fleeing justice.
Until now, it had not been publicly exposed that Naasón Joaquín García had participated in sexual activities with young people of the same sex. According to the Luz del Mundo expat, Héctor Vera, it is one of the secrets that the church has hidden for years .
“The servant of God has sexual urges. That is what they say to the young people who are brainwashed to treat Naasón 'as he deserves'. The apostle believes himself to be sent by God , he says that he is an angel , and therefore, does not have a defined sex, since he can be with men or with women. And no one has to judge him, no one can speak ill of what he does, "said Vera in an interview with Noticias Telemundo Investiga.
[La Luz del Mundo case: the judge raises the bail of Naasón Joaquín García to 90 million for new accusations]
For her part, Sochil Martin, the first woman who denounced the leader of La Luz del Mundo for sexual abuse and who, according to her account, suffered since she was 12 years old, told Noticias Telemundo Investiga that “on one occasion, a mother brought her own 14-year-old boy and Naasón, in front of her, asked me to participate in a sexual act with him. I didn't do it and then negative consequences came for me ”.
Nasaam and his lawyers have denied Sochil Martin's accusations. Telemundo news
This testimony coincides with that of other former members of La Luz del Mundo who have reported to Noticias Telemundo Investiga that some parents indoctrinate their children to serve Naasón Joaquín García, also in their sexual desires.
“It is a process that from a very young age they are putting you in because either all your sisters or brothers were slaves of the 'servant of God' , or your mother or father were. In my case, it was my aunt, who raised me as if I were her daughter, who took me to serve Naasón, ”said Martin.
Thomas Donohue, another of the California prosecutors who testified in the preliminary hearings, related that one of the victims had told him how since she was a child, the leader of La Luz del Mundo made her dance for him dressed in clothes inside and then forced her to participate in orgies.
["Being raped by two men from La Luz del Mundo is a trauma that I will never overcome"]
Sochil Martin says he has a similar story: “I started at an early age, at 12 years old, to dance exotic for him, to seduce him with my body, to take off my clothes. At the time he didn't see it as abuse, but obviously it was. When I was 16 years old, Naasón called me to work as his assistant and then he becomes physical, and begins to sexually abuse me and other friends ”.
Celebration of the Holy Supper, in Guadalajara, Mexico, August 2018. ULISES RUIZ / AFP via Getty Images / AFP via Getty Images
For this reason, Sochil Martin assures that " Naasón Joaquín García's cycle of abuse of minors has to stop " and the best way to do justice is for the evangelical leader to remain in prison.
The church maintains that it trusts in the "honorability of the apostle of Jesus Christ", and that "his legal defense will prove his innocence", according to the ministry of social communication and public relations of the church. In a statement, they assure that the prosecution's witnesses and evidence are not credible: “We categorically affirm that in a trial, rumors and biased accusations, scandalous as they may seem, are not evidence and therefore will never be sustained in the face of the facts. ”.
[Private dances, massages and baths for the apostle: the secrets of 'Los Incondicionales' from La Luz del Mundo]
The dangerous friendships of Mexican politicians with La Luz del Mundo
Prosecutor César Sánchez also gave his testimony at the preliminary hearings. He cited an exchange of text messages on October 4, 2018 between Naasón Joaquín García and Azalea Rangel in which they describe a sexual fantasy with "the child." According to officer Sánchez, it is about a teenager who was sexually abused in Hermosa Provincia, Guadalajara, Mexico, where the main headquarters of La Luz del Mundo are located.
Rangel was one of the closest assistants of Naasón Joaquín García and is the only one of the three defendants who remains unaccounted for, a fugitive. She is the wife of Gadiel Meléndez Arroyo, a member of the church who has worked as an advisor to Mexican senator Rogelio Zamora Guzmán , also a member of La Luz del Mundo, and who managed to manage a tribute to Naasón Joaquín García at the Palacio de Bellas Artes de Mexico City, weeks before his arrest in 2019.
Mexican senator Rogelio Zamora Guzmán (left) together with Gadiel Meléndez (right), husband of Azalea Rangel, a fugitive from the US justice Telemundo
Senator Zamora Guzmán is the son of Rogelio Zamora Barradas, who was a federal deputy for the Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI and has also been a minister and member of the leadership of La Luz del Mundo for several decades. Kehila Ku Escalante, a federal deputy for the Citizen Movement, is also a member of La Luz del Mundo and has publicly defended Naasón Joaquín García.
These high-level relationships of La Luz del Mundo with Mexican politics are the reason why the complaints filed by Sochil Martin before the Attorney General of the Republic against Naasón Joaquín García, have not had any effect, according to three federal deputies recently denounced of the National Action Party, PAN, led by Adriana Dávila Fernández.
[They ask that the case of La Luz del Mundo in Mexico be expedited]
Azalea Rangel is a fugitive from US justice , but she does not have an Interpol red circular or an arrest warrant in Mexico. When we consulted the California prosecution on this matter, they did not want to broach the issue.
Sochil Martin assures that there are several young women who were sexually abused by Naasón Joaquín García or by other members of the church's leadership and that they are being held in their homes by their parents so that they do not testify before the United States authorities.
“There are girls, some minors, who have contacted me, who are afraid because they are not allowed to go out to the corner, because they have been harassed , they have been made to sign false documents saying that they have never been abused. The same bishops of La Luz del Mundo, and their children, have come to have them sign these documents. These girls live in fear, not only in Mexico but also in the US, ”says Martin.
Church finances in the spotlight
Several sources consulted by Noticias Telemundo Investiga assure that La Luz del Mundo is being investigated as an organization by federal authorities in the United States. Some former members of the church, who prefer to remain anonymous , say they have been interviewed by agents from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI, in English). This coincides with the version of the agent of the California prosecutor Troy Holmes, who related how two FBI agents interviewed 'John Doe 2' for a case other than California.
But the investigations are not limited to sexual abuse. The church's finances could also come under scrutiny. According to testimonies collected by Noticias Telemundo Investiga, the church has not always reported all the money it collects from the offerings to the tax authorities of both the United States and Mexico.
[The Light of the World raises millions of its faithful, what do they do with the money?]
The coronavirus pandemic appears to have affected church income. According to data consulted by Noticias Telemundo Investiga, the church requested the Payment Protection Program (PPP), a loan granted by the federal government to companies with fewer than 500 employees and non-profit organizations to keep their workforce employed during the coronavirus crisis.
He did so through LDM Central USA Evangelical Ministries , the legal name of La Luz del Mundo in Houston, Texas. In the past, this nonprofit organization funneled $ 10.5 million to purchase land for the City of Light in the World, near Atlanta, Georgia.
The exact amount that was awarded within the PPP is unknown, but the public document that appears on the federalpay.org government portal states that the amount ranges between 350,000 and one million dollars, and is intended for 48 employees of the church headquarters in Texas maintain their salary during the months of the pandemic.
For now, the defense of Naasón Joaquín García has a few difficult weeks ahead, in which he must plan the strategy that proves his client's not guilty of the 36 charges that accuse him.
