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Since its inception nearly 100 years ago, La Luz del Mundo Church has been a family affair even as it spread from Mexico to the US and around the world.
Eusebio “Aaron” Joaquín Gonzalez, who founded the Guadalajara-based Christian church, was succeeded by his son, Samuel Joaquín Flores, upon his death in 1964.
When Samuel died in 2014, his son, Naasón Joaquín García, assumed power. La Luz del Mundo now reportedly operates in all 50 US states and approximately the same number of countries, boasting 5 million members worldwide.
However, new filings in Manhattan federal court have alleged that La Luz’s patriarchs passed down much more than leadership at the helm of this evangelical megachurch.
A recently unsealed indictment charges Naasón – and five other defendants, including his mother – in a sprawling sex-trafficking conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that each generation carried out a “deeply disturbing tradition” of abuse against vulnerable devotees.
“The defendants engaged in a racketeering enterprise that exploited the LLDM Church and persisted for decades to facilitate the systemic sexual abuse of children and women – including the creation of photos and videos of sadistic child sexual abuse,” prosecutors said in announcing the charges.
Eva García de Joaquín, Samuel’s wife and Naasón’s mother, “groomed for her husband’s sexual abuse and directly herself sexually abused minors and young women” for years, prosecutors also said.
Naasón, who is serving a state-level sentence in California for the sexual abuse of minors, was brought to New York City to face these charges. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
The alleged culture of abuse started with Aaron and continued by his descendants. He, Samuel, and Naasón tricked girls and young women by telling them they could get a “special” blessing by serving them. This frequently included sexual activity, prosecutors said.
Church doctrine set the stage for abuse. The church leader was known as an “Apostle”. Members were told that the sole way to reach eternal salvation was “to follow the teachings of the Apostle”, prosecutors said.
They were also warned that “God will punish and eternally damn anyone who doubts the Apostle, fails to follow the Apostle’s teachings, or defies the Apostle.”
As the church’s Apostle, Samuel abused “numerous” girls and women. Samuel’s actions “served as a model” for his Naasón – who is still the church’s Apostle. Naasón’s victims include the daughters of girls and women his father abused, prosecutors allege.
Samuel couldn’t carry out this abuse without the help of a coterie of women. His wife, Eva, allegedly helped “to identify girls and women for sexual abuse and to ‘groom’ them … by exploiting their ages and vulnerabilities.”
Eva set the stage for one victim’s abuse by “slowly exposing her to sexually explicit reading material and pornography, which was strictly forbidden according to the doctrine propagated by Samuel”. When the girl was around 16, Eva allegedly helped Samuel assault her, prosecutors claim.
All the while, they allegedly used church coffers as their personal bank to fund abuse. Naasón allegedly used members’ donations on masks, costumes, and sex toys to make child sexual abuse images. He also told others to use this money, dubbed “love offerings”, to buy cleaning supplies meant for eliminating evidence of abuse.
The family also bankrolled a high-rolling lifestyle with “love-offerings”, buying “luxury cars, watches, designer clothing, and first-class travel around the world”. Samuel and Eva allegedly took advantage of congregants free labor to build a sprawling home in Los Angeles, California.
“The house was adorned with so many luxurious items, such as gold leaf lining the house’s molding, that LLDM Church members refer to it as the ‘Versace’ house,” prosecutors said.
When federal agents searched Naasón and Eva’s adjacent homes on 10 September, they found still more evidence of wealth – including more than $1m in US currency as well as Canadian dollars and Euros. They allege to have also found “numerous” gold pieces and coins.
Eva’s house even featured a “trap door hidden underneath a bed”, court papers contend. The alleged trap door gave way to an underground area with a safe that contained a cache of $220,000 and jewellry.
Prosecutors pointed to Eva’s apparent wealth in paperwork arguing against her release on bail. Witnesses told authorities that there are hundreds of thousands in US dollars “hidden beneath” La Luz’s churches in Mexico. And with her access to multiple properties abroad, Eva “could comfortably live in hiding should she flee”, prosecutors said.
Naasón and Eva both face charges that carry a maximum life sentence, including racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking conspiracy.
Neither Naasón nor Eva’s attorneys could immediately be reached. Alan Jackson, Naasón’s defense lawyer in Los Angeles, previously told NPR: “We categorically deny these charges.”
Jackson also said: “We reject the grotesque portrait painted by the government and its allies.”
