New scandal in the La Luz del Mundo church. The United States Justice has presented this Tuesday two new criminal charges against Naasón Joaquín García, known by his followers as the apostle of Jesus Christ, for production and possession of child pornography. The Mexican religious leader, sentenced in 2022 by a California state court to almost 17 years in prison for child sexual abuse, is accused for the first time by a federal court and faces a maximum of 40 years in prison, if found guilty. .
The charges, filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, are based on a case against a victim who was 16 years old when the crimes were committed, whose identity has not been revealed. Always according to the judicial summary, Joaquín García forced the victim to “engage in explicit sexual conduct” to record her and save those images. The claimed events occurred on May 6, 2019, nine days before the self-appointed servant of God received a tribute for his 50th birthday at the Palace of Fine Arts, the highest cultural venue in Mexico, which was attended by senators. , politicians and ambassadors.
Brother Naasón, as he is also known by his followers, was arrested on June 3, 2019 at the Los Angeles Airport for more than twenty crimes, including rape, sexual abuse, extortion and human trafficking in California. At the time of his arrest he was carrying an iPad, where authorities say he kept explicit videos of the 16-year-old victim and which have now become the center of a new accusation. The indictment cites at least five videos found on his electronic devices.
The religious leader was in an arduous legal battle for three years and hired Alan Jackson, a high-profile lawyer who has actor Kevin Spacey and producer Harvey Weinstein on his client list, to respond to the accusations. In June of last year, three days before the trial began in Los Angeles, Joaquín García reached an agreement with the California Prosecutor’s Office and pleaded guilty to three crimes of child sexual abuse in exchange for a reduced sentence of 16 years and eight months. If convicted, he could have spent his life behind bars. The church, which claims to have seven million followers in more than 60 countries, defends his innocence to date and continues to consider him the maximum leader of its community, despite being a confessed sexual predator.
At the same time, Joaquín García faces at least two civil lawsuits brought by former members of his congregation. He also has an open investigation in Mexico, promoted since he was detained in the United States in 2019, which has not reached the courts. The US justice system plans for him to appear before a federal judge in the coming weeks, although it did not detail an exact date.
“As survivors of the La Luz del Mundo sect, we will continue to fight for justice for the abuses perpetrated by the leaders of this cult,” wrote Sharim García, husband of Sochil Martin, former assistant to the religious leader and the first woman to publicly denounce Naasón Joaquín. The faithful who left the church have demanded that investigations also advance in Mexico, where the church was founded in 1926 and where it has most of its parishioners. La Luz del Mundo has not yet commented on the new charges on its official platforms.
Information in development.
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