LOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of the Mexican megachurch La Luz del Mundo, which has several churches in Georgia, was sentenced Wednesday to more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young female followers who said he made them his sex slaves.
Naasón Joaquín García, 53, abruptly pleaded guilty last week in Los Angeles Superior Court to three felonies on the eve of a long-awaited trial.
Prosecutors said García, who is considered the “apostle” of Jesus Christ by his 5 million worldwide followers, used his spiritual sway to have sex with girls and young women who were told it would lead to their salvation — or damnation if they refused.
In a statement released Wednesday, La Luz Del Mundo defended García, noting the church’s “trust in him remains intact.”
A man who answered the phone in the megachurch’s Valdosta congregation echoed that sentiment.
“He is excellent. He is honorable. I know [García] as a friend, as our church leader and our apostle ... So I can tell you, I know who he is, and I don’t doubt him. The church is with him 100%,” he said in Spanish.
When asked for his name, the man hung up, telling an AJC reporter “may God bless you, may God hold you, and you not be guided by lies.”
There are multiple independent congregations throughout Georgia “that ascribe to the teachings of Jesus Christ taught in The Light of the World,” according to an email from the press department of La Luz Del Mundo. According to its Atlanta website, there are at least five churches in the state, including ones in Gainesville and Norcross.
It not clear how often the site is updated or which churches are still operating.
The sentence came after nearly three hours of emotional statements by five young women García was charged with sexually abusing. They had once been his most devoted servants. But in court they called him “evil” and a “monster,” “disgusting human waste” and the “antichrist.”
In exchange for the guilty pleas , prosecutors dropped 16 counts that included allegations of raping children and women, as well as human trafficking to produce child pornography.
The victims objected to the plea deal, saying they only learned about it at the last minute and were not consulted. They implored Coen to impose a stiffer sentence but he said his hands were tied by the agreement.
“The world has heard you,” he told the weeping Jane Does and their supporters. “I promise you that.”
The church, which is also known as the Light of the World, said in a statement that García pleaded guilty because he didn’t think he could get a fair trial after prosecutors withheld or doctored evidence. The agreement would allow him to be freed sooner.
“The Apostle of Jesus Christ has had no choice but to accept with much pain that the agreement presented is the best way forward to protect the church and his family,” the church said. It repeated its support for him.
García’s grandfather founded the Guadalajara-based fundamentalist Christian church in 1926. García took over as “apostle” after his father, Samuel Joaquín Flores, died in 2014.
Flores was also the subject of child sex abuse allegations in 1997, but authorities in Mexico never filed criminal charges.
García was aided by others in the church who groomed his victims and facilitated the abuse. Two women who have pleaded guilty to related charges were not sentenced Wednesday.
Defense lawyers had said prosecutors were operating under a far-fetched legal theory that García used spiritual coercion for sexual pleasure.
“It is a fantasy seemingly invented out of whole cloth,” defense attorney Alan Jackson wrote in a court filing.
Staff writer Lautaro Grinspan contributed to this report
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