Many residents of Flowery Branch were already up in arms about a controversial international church’s proposal to build a sprawling new complex in their Hall County community.
But news that La Luz Del Mundo leader Naason Joaquin Garcia was arrested this week on sex trafficking and child pornography charges has those opposed to the project feeling publicly vindicated — and cautiously optimistic about the fate of the proposal.
“I would hope that this stops it in its tracks,” said David Nixon, a spokesman for the “Flowery Branch Strong Community” Facebook group, which formed in response to the church’s proposal. “Now that it’s got enough visibility, I can’t imagine this still going through.”
Representatives from La Luz Del Mundo have openly suggested that the opposition from Nixon and his counterparts is racially tinged. The locals maintain that it’s not the church or its potential visitors that they’re against — just the strain that the nearly 300-acre complex, complete with hotels, homes and a school, would place on their community of 8,000 residents.
“It’s really been about building a ‘city of light’ within our city, and what it’s going to do to our traffic, our property value, our taxes,” Dixon said Wednesday.
The arrest of Garcia and his colleagues has given the opposition another angle to work.
Garcia, 50, and three co-defendants connected to La Luz del Mundo — a Guadalajara, Mexico-based church that boasts to have 1 million international followers — were charged this week in what California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called “a major sex trafficking case.”
According the 26-count criminal complaint filed against them, Garcia and others on multiple occasions forced minor girls to perform "flirty dances," take photos, touch each other and perform sex acts.
Garcia gave the girls “a speech about a king having mistresses and stated that an apostle of God can never be judged for his actions,” according to the complaint.
The offenses allegedly occurred in Los Angeles County, California, between 2015 and 2018. The investigation was prompted after a complaint was filed through the state’s online clergy abuse portal, the attorney general said.
A press release posted to La Luz del Mundo's Facebook page said that the church "categorically rejects each and every allegation" made against its leader.
The church was already controversial in Mexico, where, according to the New York Times, previous leader Samuel Joaquin Flores had faced — and denied — his own child sex abuse allegations. Flores died in 2014 and had never been charged with a crime.
The Times reported that some had also questioned the church’s political connections and influence in Mexico.
A group affiliated with the church filed preliminary documents with the city of Flowery Branch in early 2017, proposing a 272-acre development on agricultural land along Hog Mountain Road. The project identified as "City of Light of the World" was pitched to include hotel, retail and residential components, as well as a fellowship hall and school, according to previous reporting from the Gainesville Times.
It wasn’t until last September when the full scope of the proposal gained the attention of the public. It drew immediate backlash from residents, who balked at the church’s stated goal of building a walled city within the city.
The "Flowery Branch Strong Community" page popped up in response, as did a petition opposing the development which now has nearly 8,400 signatures.
The church has shown no signs of backing down, but the exact status of its project is unclear. While the church has submitted preliminary paperwork, it has not formally submitted a rezoning application.
The local attorney representing the church in the development process could not be reached.
In a statement emailed to the AJC, Flowery Branch City Manager Bill Andrew said the city was “not privy” to the allegations against Garcia and his counterparts. If and when a rezoning applicatoin is submitted, Andrew wrote, the city council’s role “would be focused on applying the land use decision criteria set forth in the city’s zoning ordinance.”
Dixon, the community spokesman, said he’s seen trucks and machinery start to appear on the land over the last month or two. For now, he and his neighbors are working to make sure their local representatives are well aware of the recent legal developments.
“As an elected official, its your duty to make sure that you’re not inviting a fox into your hen house,” Dixon said.
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