According to CNN and Propublica, the Light of the World Church, led by Naasón Joaquín García, received a loan from the Trump administration in June. The polemic church received between USD 350,000 and USD 1 million amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Naasón Joaquín García is currently imprisoned in the U.S., where he faces 36 counts of sexual abuse . La Luz del Mundo church argues the bond set at USD 90 million is an early prison sentence for the spiritual leader.
U.S. media reported that LDM Central USA Evangelical Ministries, a branch of La Luz del Mundo based in Houston, received the government loan. This branch of the church was established by Agustín Ahumada, Louis Cruz, and María Elena Martínez in 2009.
Ahumada is a pastor at the church, while Louis Cruz is a deacon. Martínez is a legal representative.
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The loans granted by Donald Trump’s administration aim to soften the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on small and medium-sized enterprises.
However, as reported by newspaper El País, some have criticized the decision to grant a loan to La Luz del Mundo, as the religious organization “does not pay salaries or taxes to those at the bottom of the hierarchy, and because the tithe flow hasn’t stopped despite Joaquín García’s arrest."
A U.S. judge found enough evidence for Naasón Joaquín, and two members of La Luz del Mundo, to face trial over sexual abuse and rape charges.
Judge Ronald S. Coen decided García will stand trial over almost two dozen felony counts, including forcible rape of a minor, and other crimes allegedly committed in Southern California.
The decision was made after almost two weeks of hearings in which several witnesses were presented, as well as the evidence collected from the cellphone authorities seized from Joaquín García during his arrest on June 3, 2019.
U.S. authorities charged Naasón Joaquín García with 23 felony counts, including forcible rape of a minor, forcible oral copulation of a person under 18, unlawful sexual intercourse, lewd act on a child, extortion, conspiracy, and possession of child pornography.
On August 6, a Los Angeles court established a USD 90 million bail against the religious leader, an amount considered an “anticipated sentence” by his church.
Naasón Joaquín’s defense had tried to have the case dismissed over technicalities in the procedure by taking it before California’s Second District Appeals Court that dismissed the legal procedure in April, the reason why his lawyers expected his release considering the coronavirus pandemic.
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The California Attorney Generals Office refiled the accusations against Joaquín García and two of his alleged accomplices and also filed new accusations.
The new accusation cites five victims, one of whom is identified as Jane Doe 5, who was allegedly abused in February 2016.
U.S. prosecutors claim García’s aide asked minors to get naked and take pictures of their genitals to send them to Naasón Joaquín.
In September 2017 and January 2018, the same aide took three girls to a building and "provided them with school girl costumes, ordered them to touch their bodies, and take pictures of them doing so,” according to the prosecutors.
The aide faces27 felony counts, including forcible rape, forcible sexual penetration, human trafficking by procuring a child to engage in a lewd act, production and distribution of child pornography, and contact with a minor for a sexual offense.
Meanwhile, authorities charged another aide with two felony counts on for forcible oral copulation of a person under 18.
A fourth defendant, Azalea Rangel Meléndez, is at large.
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