The problems with justice faced by Naasón Joaquín García, leader of the La Luz del Mundo church, did not end with the 16-year prison sentence he received on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The pastor has been under the scrutiny of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Mexican Prosecutor's Office .
According to the court testimony of an agent from the California Attorney General's Office, former church faithful and Univision News sources, Naasón Joaquín has been the target of an open case headed by the FBI.
The National Security Investigations (HSI) unit, focused on child sex trafficking cases, confirmed to Univision Noticias that it did have the self-appointed 'Apostle of Jesus Christ' in its sights, but closed the case for reasons it did not explain and on a date which he didn't mention either.
"HSI San Diego investigated the individual; however, the case has been closed," a spokesperson for the agency said.
The FBI, for its part, did not respond to requests for comment sent by this means. Earlier, his spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a brief statement: "As you know, the FBI cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation."
In her statement in court this Wednesday, the anonymous victim identified as 'Jane Doe 5', a young American woman who lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, recounted how FBI agents rescued her and her son because at one time the "bodyguards" of the Joaquín family had them “kidnapped”.
'Jane Doe 5' managed to contact the US Embassy in Mexico to ask for help. "Her power is so great in Jalisco that even the FBI had trouble rescuing me," she said, referring to Naasón Joaquín and assured that she even distrusted the operation that brought her to California.
"But I preferred to die trying than to stay another day," he said.
This young woman described that armed men kept her under constant surveillance for months. "I lived in constant fear, fearing for my life... I thought they were going to kill me at any moment."
She was in contact with an official from the Attorney General's Office (FGR), through WhatsApp messages, but later they lost track of her.
Federal police officers from that country posed as tourists to enter the neighborhood where the church is located, the Hermosa Province, to gather information and try to communicate again with 'Jane Doe 5', but they could not, according to the FGR file. , which was reviewed by Univision Noticias.
The operation to bring this girl to the US, which was carried out in coordination with police officers from both countries, was described in part by state prosecutor Patricia Fusco at a hearing in early May.
Fusco said they had to rescue one of the complainants who was in Mexico "because Garcia's people followed her with weapons wherever she went. People on both sides of the border had to help her escape to the United States."
But the testimony of "Jane Doe 5" in the end was not used in the case against Naasón Joaquín, because state prosecutors accepted that he plead guilty to three charges, linked to the minor complainants: Jane Doe 1, 2 and 3.
The FBI investigation in Texas
At the beginning of 2020, Univision News published that the FBI had the so-called 'Apostle of Jesus Christ' in its sights, according to statements by ex-faithfuls who would have been interviewed by the agency.
And in July of that year, when a state appeals court dismissed the first case against Naasón Joaquín due to a procedural flaw, the FBI asked the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office to retain the pastor, who was in the Central Jail for Men, on a pending federal indictment.
In August of that same year, Troy Holmes, an investigator for the California Department of Justice, stated in Los Angeles court that he accompanied FBI officers who interviewed a minor in Texas who allegedly appears in a video with explicit sexual content. This alleged victim was identified as 'John Doe 2'.
“They were two FBI agents, in Waco, Texas, and they interviewed 'John Doe 2' at his high school,” Agent Holmes explained when testifying at a preliminary hearing in the case.
The minor who was interviewed by federal agents was allegedly captured in a sexual recording that was on an iPad that was seized from the leader of La Luz del Mundo when he was arrested in June 2019.
Holmes described that the minor, who was 14 years old when the alleged abuse occurred, appears in the video wearing a black suit and a mask that covered his nose and eyes.
This Wednesday, state prosecutor Patricia Fusco said that this minor "could be drugged in that video", because "you don't see emotions" during the abuse.
FBI agents who interviewed 'John Doe 2' in Texas sent Holmes photos of the teenager and Holmes compared them to the recording held by the California State Attorney's Office. Holmes said in court that he appears to be the same person, based on the features on his face, his figure and a mark on his neck. In addition, one of the accusers, 'Jane Doe 4', identified him by name and age.
Holmes was not present at the interview conducted by the FBI and clarified that he only received several photos after the encounter with 'John Doe 2', which occurred on an unspecified date.
- "It was taken in a separate interview," Holmes said of the photographs.
- "Did you take the photo?" Prosecutor Amanda Plisner asked during the hearing.
- “No”, replied the officer.
- “Who did it?” the official questioned.
"The FBI," Holmes insisted.
Sochil Martin, the first woman who denounced Naasón Joaquín in California, told this medium that she has held interviews with FBI agents.
Her statement, that of her husband and that of a former pastor appear in files of hundreds of pages made up by the Attorney General of the Republic of Mexico. In those pages there are copies of a passport application, a military card and the driver's license of the 'Apostle of Jesus Christ'.
Martin also filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against Naasón, his family and the church, arguing that he has been the victim of various crimes, including organized crime, human trafficking and labor slavery. Martin's and Naasón's lawyers agreed to wait for the minister's criminal case to be resolved before continuing with that lawsuit.
"I'm not going to stop until this organized crime organization stops," she told Univision News.
There is another civil suit that a young woman identified with the initials 'HF' filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. 'HF' is the seventh complainant of Naasón Joaquín in California.
This woman narrates in her complaint that she met the religious leader when she was nine years old and went with her family to a temple in San Diego, on the border between California and Mexico.
The church taught him from his childhood that the only representatives of God on Earth were the Joaquins and that "salvation can only be obtained by following the Apostle."
"When she was a child, the plaintiff and her older sister met (Naasón Joaquín) García and they met García's daughter," describes the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Univision Noticias.
Already in her adolescence, Naasón Joaquín and other members of the church told HF and other minors that “they had been chosen to serve the Apostle and that they would be prepared to be part of a special and exclusive group of girls and young women at the service of the Apostle ”, mentions the lawsuit.
“Once Garcia assumed leadership of La Luz del Mundo and named himself 'Apostle,' Plaintiff continued to be informed that it was an honor to serve the 'Apostle,' and that her salvation depended on her doing what the 'Apostle ' tidied him up and made him happy," the suit continues.
By August 2018, when she was 20 years old, the young woman was selected to attend the Holy Supper, the most important celebration of the congregation that takes place in Guadalajara. Upon arriving at that event, the older sister of 'HF' took her to Naasón Joaquín's bedroom, in a luxurious three-story house located next to the main temple, in the Hermosa Provincia neighborhood.
“Once in the bedroom, the plaintiff was forced to engage in sexual acts with Garcia and her own sister. Plaintiff did not consent to her or have any capacity to consent to her at the time because her participation in the sexual acts was compelled by coercion, threat, fraud, and force,” the complaint states.
The alleged abuse to the detriment of 'HF' occurred ten months before the pastor's arrest.
The young woman was willing to testify against the 'Apostle', but could not because of the plea agreement that he signed. The lawyers of 'HF' and those of Naasón Joaquín also agreed to stop the lawsuit until the criminal process was concluded.