Through a 211-page motion filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles, the lawyers of the leader of the La Luz del Mundo church, Naasón Joaquín García, denounced that the California Prosecutor's Office manipulated the written conversations of three young complainants to unfairly accuse him sexual abuse of minors, child pornography and other serious crimes.
Said document requests that his client's criminal proceedings be dismissed while the date set for the jury selection to begin to determine whether the so-called 'Apostle of Jesus Christ' is innocent, guilty or, as the case may be, is not reached a verdict in deliberations.
The pastor's legal defense said in another motion that he could be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a Californian jail if they confirm his responsibility in the 19 charges against him.
In a brief statement sent to Univision News, the California Prosecutor's Office stated: "The case continues and we will respond in court."
“We are shocked by the facts outlined in defense attorney Alan Jackson's recent motion, filed Tuesday, March 15, alleging that the California State Attorney's Office fabricated incriminating evidence, created reports based on false evidence, erased and concealed exculpatory evidence. … Its purpose has been to unfairly retain the Apostle,” the church said in a statement.
“Based on the motion presented, it is clear that their constitutional rights have been unjustly violated. Therefore, all charges against the Apostle must be dismissed and consequently proceed to his immediate release”, he concludes.
The arguments of the lawyers of Joaquín García, who has been detained in a downtown Los Angeles jail since his arrest at the Los Angeles airport in June 2019, is that the prosecutors deliberately hid several “exculpatory” conversations that three faithful had. that they were minors when they were allegedly sexually assaulted by the Mexican minister. Authorities identify them as 'Jane Doe' 1, 2 and 3.
Dialogues of the Jane Does
According to the motion, agent Joseph Cedusky, who reviewed and selected more than 70,000 text messages, which were reduced to 2,221 messages in his opinion relevant, omitted that they were free to carry out other activities, used social networks, had sexual relations with her boyfriends denied having been attacked by Joaquín García and were not sure if he was really the "chosen one of God".
The document cites, for example, that agent Cedusky edited a portion of a conversation about oral sex on March 29, 2018. They talked about intimate encounters with their boyfriends, but the officer incorrectly indicated that they were referring to the leader of La Luz del Mundo. , say the lawyers.
In another talk in February 2018, the motion states, the complainants discussed that one of them and not Alondra Ocampo, the co-defendant who pleaded guilty and could testify at trial, was the one who pressed for photographs to be taken without clothes.
“You are the one who will be mad at us for not sending the photos,” the conversation reads, according to the lawyers. "But I'll get mad because Alondra puts pressure on me," the dialogue continues.
The indictment alleges that Ocampo recruited the victims of the 'Apostle' in the East Los Angeles temple to form a "special" group that attended him when he visited the city. He taught them how to perform lap dances, pose nude and perform sexual acts while he filmed and photographed them. Some of those images were seized from Joaquín García's iPhone and iPad, prosecutors say.
“I was about to have sex with him”
According to the "Apostle's" lawyers, one of the most important pieces of evidence in his favor would be the messages that "Jane Doe 2" wrote on his cell phone on February 19, 2018 denying having had relations with the minister. “(Lark) asked me twice. I always said no,” she wrote.
Two months later, the three complainants spoke about the use of condoms. "I wonder if the 'Servant of God' uses them," mentioned 'Jane Doe 3'. To which 'Jane Doe 2' replied: “No, he doesn't use it. I was about to have sex with him."
The motion does not clarify under what circumstances a teenager was close to being sexually abused by her spiritual leader, who was then 48 years old.
This is how the lawyers interpreted it: “Again, the only possible meaning of the phrase 'I was about to have sex with him' is that Jane Doe 2 did not in fact have sex with Mr. Garcia. And this exchange occurred in April 2018, a month after the end of the period during which prosecutors allege Garcia coerced Jane Doe 2 into having sex."
"In sum, through years of conversations and thousands of text messages exchanged, Jane Doe 2 never mentions that she engaged in a sexual exchange with Mr. Garcia, whether consensually or not."
On another occasion, Agent Cedusky allegedly edited a talk in which 'Jane Doe 1' says “I'm not a girl anymore” and “The Servant of God took it from me”. But he deleted 114 messages that would have been understood as advising him what to say to her mother so that she would allow him to have a boyfriend. The conversation included a laughing emoji, the lawyers say.
At a hearing held on November 15, prosecutor Diane Callaghan said that the messages on the complainants' cell phones were taken out of context by attorney Alan Jackson. She also stated that they have never made promises to offer immigration status to the victims and their families. And that they have been helped financially by the victim services unit of the Prosecutor's Office "to support their well-being and keep them in safe circumstances throughout this case."
It is not the first time that the legal firm that Joaquín García hired uses the conversations of the complainants to try to dismiss the case.
A few months ago, in another motion, the defense attorneys mention a written talk in which they discussed “collaborating on creating a narrative declaring that 'Jane Doe 2' had been raped. The purpose of this collaboration was to persuade the boyfriend of 'Jane Doe 2' to come back with him after ending the relationship,” states the motion, a copy of which was obtained by Univision Noticias.
“Do you think it will work?” asked 'Jane Doe 2'. “Google some words for you to use,” 'Jane Doe 3' suggested, and she herself did a search for the word “rape” on said website. They then exchanged "drafts" of the text messages that they would send to the young man, but he did not believe him and said that his ex-girlfriend was "a liar," the court document details.
For Naasón Joaquín's lawyers, this conversation is the first in which "Jane Doe 2" talks about a violation, among "thousands of communications" that she had with other complainants.
Until November 5, 2021, the lawyers of the 'Apostle of Jesus Christ' pointed out that between an avalanche of 500,000 text messages, 26,000 emails, 630,000 photos and videos, 6,500 telephone call records and 7,200 internet searches on seven cell phones not they had found a single trace that they were victims of sex trafficking and coercion through the spiritual path.
“In fact, the devices reveal that the complainants lived their lives, participating in all the regular activities at work, school, romance, etc. There is not even a hint of a kind of 'spiritual coercion' that the prosecution has claimed in court,” the litigants indicated.
In the most recent motion, the lawyers affirm that the three "Jane Does" were not afraid of Ocampo, they made fun of the leaders of La Luz del Mundo and doubted the divine power of Naasón Joaquín.
This was one of their dialogues:
Jane Doe 1: What do you think about God?
Jane Doe 3: I don't know. I feel that there is a God.
Jane Doe 2: I don't believe there is a God.
Jane Doe 3: And if he exists, then let him judge me and if I'm going to hell, I'm going to hell.
Jane Doe 1: Most of the time I don't care either.
Jane Doe 3: But I don't feel like I have to follow the rules of the church and the Servant of God.
Church's Statement response: https://twitter.com/tlotwchurch/status/1505978493196144641