two weeks later Nason Joaquin Garcia, Church leader La Luz del Mundo was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison for pedophilia, after a federal judge in Los Angeles removed the pause for information about a federal civil lawsuit filed against him.
Plaintiff’s counsel with this action Sochil Martin, Those who claim to be a “sex slave” of a Mexican pastor hope that the trial proceeds “at full speed” and that it encourages other potential victims to condemn the minister, who has been accused of three juveniles. Sentenced to three counts of sexual abuse. who attended a temple in East Los Angeles.
In his lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Los Angeles in February 2020, Martin accused Nason Joaquin, his relatives and the bishops of La Luz del Mundo of being part of a “criminal organization” that for many years its physical, economic sexually and sexually abused. ,
Martin was the first woman to condemn a Guadalajara minister in California and inspired five other women to break the silence.
“I’m not going to stop until this organized crime organization stops,” she told Univision News.
The order issued Thursday by Judge Fred W. Slaughter also determined that the California Attorney General’s office, which is looking into the criminal case in Los Angeles County Superior Court, is no longer interested in Martin’s trial.
Martin’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, said in a statement: “We view the search ban in the Sochil Martin case as the beginning.”
Attorney Deborah said, “We hope this will encourage all survivors, witnesses and whistleblowers who suffered sexual abuse while participating in the La Luz del Mundo criminal organization to contact the police if they have any information.” Talk.” ,
Lawyers for Naason Joaquin were not immediately available for comment. The church on its part has not commented on the matter.
“We still have an open case”
Martin’s federal lawsuit is one of the legal issues facing Nason Joaquin.
The pastor is still under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Mexican Prosecutor’s Office. While the National Security Investigation Unit (HSI) focused on child sex trafficking cases, Univision confirmed to Noticias that it had a self-appointed ‘Apostle of Jesus Christ’, but closed the case for reasons that did not make it clear. did not. And a date not mentioned.
The FBI, for its part, has neither confirmed nor denied that it is investigating him. But during her sentencing hearing on June 8, the anonymous victim identified as ‘Jane Do 5’, a young American woman living in Guadalajara, Mexico, described how FBI agents saved her and her son because at one time There were “bodyguards”. He was “kidnapped” by the Joaquin family.
In his testimony, State Attorney’s Office Detective Troy Holmes testified in court two years earlier: that he was with FBI elements who interviewed a minor in Texas who allegedly appeared in an explicit sexual video. Which was in Shepherd’s iPhone.
“We still have an open case,” said a source in the Mexican Attorney General’s Office (FGR) a few days ago, which has interviewed ex-faithists in preparation for an alleged sex trafficking and money laundering case since 2019. The Mexican government is still searching for the victims, despite the reduced sentence given to Nason Joaquin in California.
“The matter is still progressing,” the source insisted.
Second lawsuit in Los Angeles
Another is a civil suit identified by the initials ‘HF’ filed by a young woman in Los Angeles Superior Court. ‘HF’ is Nason Joaquin’s seventh complainant in California.
The woman states in her complaint that she met the religious leader when she was nine years old and accompanied her family to a temple in San Diego, on the border between California and Mexico.
The Church had taught him from childhood that Joaquins was the only representative of God on earth and that “only by following the apostle can salvation be attained.”
“When she was a child, the plaintiff and her older sister (Nasan Joaquin) met García and they met García’s daughter,” describes the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Univision Noticias.
Already in her teens, Nason Joaquin and other members of the church told HF and other minors that “she was chosen to serve the apostle and prepared to be part of a special and exclusive group of girls and young women.” Will be the service of the apostle”, the lawsuit mentions.
“Once García assumed the leadership of La Luz del Mundo and named himself the ‘Apostle’, the plaintiffs continued to be informed that it was an honor to serve the ‘Apostle’, and that his salvation rested upon him.” Depends on what the ‘Apostle’ did to him. And made him happy,” the suit continues.
As of August 2018, when she was 20 years old, the young woman was chosen to attend the Holy Communion, the most important celebration of the congregation in Guadalajara. Upon arriving at that event, the older sister of ‘HF’ took him to the bedroom of Nason Joaquin, a luxurious three-story house located next to the main temple, in the Hermosa Provincia neighborhood.
“Once in the bedroom, plaintiff was compelled to engage in sexual acts with Garcia and her own sister. Plaintiff did not consent, nor did she have any ability to consent at the time because of her involvement in the sexual acts. The participation was forced through coercion, intimidation, fraud and force,” the complaint states.
The alleged abuse of the damages of ‘HF’ occurred ten months before the arrest of the pastor.
The young woman was ready to testify against the ‘apostle’, but could not do so because of the petition agreement signed by her. HF’s lawyer and Nason Joaquin’s lawyer agreed to hold the trial until the criminal process is over.
