A new adjustment to the parole eligibility date for Naasón Joaquín García, leader of the La Luz del Mundo church, puts him before a possible five-year reduction to his sentence for pederasty. Now the California government proposes that he be released in March 2031.
The new information that appears in the prison record of the Mexican pastor was verified on Monday by a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
A week ago, that agency indicated that December 2032 was the earliest date for a parole panel to review the evangelical minister's judicial file, in order to determine whether he should be released from prison or continue serving his sentence.
Vicky Waters, CDCR spokesperson, explained in a message sent to this medium that Naasón Joaquín is in the process of receiving and classifying the California prison system, “where an exhaustive evaluation is carried out that includes several things, including his sentence. , any medical needs, etc.”
The 53-year-old pastor is in North Kern State Prison, in California's Central Valley, waiting to be sent to prison where he will serve the remainder of his sentence. That process could take up to 120 days. He is expected to be placed in a special unit for the crimes he committed, for being the leader of a church that claims to have five million followers, and for his fortune.
Waters mentioned that the estimated parole date is based on sentence and credits earned from educational programs offered behind bars. "The credits depend on the behavior and participation in the program" of rehabilitation, the official stressed.
When he was arrested in June 2019 in Los Angeles, California, Naasón Joaquín was facing more than 20 criminal charges, including rape of a minor, sex trafficking and child pornography.
His defense attorneys managed to have the extortion charges dropped and later reached an agreement with the California District Attorney's Office that dismissed a large part of the criminal complaint, only left him three charges related to the sexual abuse of three minors and freed him from a possible life imprisonment.
"I do not feel secure"
If his sentence is fully served, even subtracting the time he was detained in a Los Angeles county jail, Naasón Joaquín should be released until February 2036. The new adjustment made by the California government supposes a reduction in his punishment of almost five years.
“I was expecting this slap. Not only are we not good enough for the Prosecutor's Office, but the safety of citizens, of children, is not their priority,” said Sochil Martin, the first woman who denounced Naasón Joaquín in California, in a telephone interview with Univision Noticias.
“I don't feel safe in my own state. My daughter is not safe in this country. They are five years younger. She's not your average sexual predator who did it three, four times. There are several people who take her own children to her (for her to abuse them) and the Prosecutor's Office said so, ”she continued.
Originally from Los Angeles, Martin affirms that she was recruited at the age of nine to dance with little clothes for Samuel Joaquín Flores, father of Naasón Joaquín, and when he ascended the throne in December 2014 she became part of his harem, according to what she has declared. in interviews with this medium and in a civil lawsuit that he filed in February 2020 in a federal court in Los Angeles.
Martin's litigation continues to advance, while sources say that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit, which pursues international child sex trafficking networks, are interviewing ex-members of La Luz. of the world.
“I understand that parole is a benefit for prisoners who behave well, but do not see the danger, because they do not know, they are not interested. Naason entered jail as just another rapist," said Sharim Guzmán, Martin's husband and who was a political operator for the church in Baja California.
"Undoubtedly what is happening is due to the poor work of the Prosecutor's Office," Guzmán stressed.
But the California Department of Justice has denied that the criminal case of the leader of La Luz del Mundo has concluded in such a way due to failures of its prosecutors. The truth is that in hearings prior to sentencing, the prosecutors themselves acknowledged that they had found thousands of text messages from the complainants and, by legal obligation, they had to share them with the pastor's lawyers in advance.
In a statement sent to Univision, the Prosecutor's Office indicated that a judge ruled in his favor in that debate. “The multiple felony convictions and nearly 17 years in prison speak for themselves,” he stresses.
Naasón Joaquín continues to govern his church through emissaries, letters and phone calls he makes from prison. His followers say that his apostolate is “non-transferable”. His son Adoraim Joaquín Zamora, a young newlywed, seems to have begun his preparation to succeed him in the church: he has taken over the reins of a temple in the border city of San Diego.