Assemblies of God Church Faces New Lawsuit Over Alleged Abuse at Florida Summer Camp

The Fort Lauderdale-based Horowitz Law firm announced last week that it is suing Ignite Life Center and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God. The lawsuit alleges that the two entities failed to protect children at a congregation-sponsored summer camp.

The complaint was filed in the Orange County Circuit Court. It alleges that in July 2018, a girl who was then 10 years old was sexually abused during the Ignite Summer Internship program, which Ignite Life and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God operated.

The alleged abuse occurred months after the defendants had reportedly been informed that, in a separate case, a minor girl had been arrested in February 2018 for sexually abusing multiple children. Warnings of this kind call for prompt protective action for children, a duty tied to protecting the vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9). According to the firm’s announcement, this is the fifth suit its attorneys have filed related to alleged abuse at the church-led summer camp.

The Christian Post contacted Ignite Life Church and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God for this article. Neither entity had returned comment by press time. The report notes that in recent years, several people who were involved in the church’s summer camp have been arrested on allegations of abusing children in the program.

Gabriel Hemenez, a former Ignite Life member who had volunteered at the camp, was arrested in 2023 over alleged inappropriate touching of three minors and an adult in 2021. He was charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and one count of attempted sexual battery of a minor. News4Jax reported that he confessed to those crimes.

In March of last year, Hemenez pleaded guilty to two counts of felony lewd and lascivious conduct involving two boys. He received a five-year prison sentence, eight years of probation and a lifetime designation as a registered sex offender.

Other arrests connected to the church include Christian David Vargas, arrested in July 2023, and Noel Cruz, taken into custody in February 2024, according to The Alachua Chronicle. Both men were charged with lewd or lascivious battery on a victim younger than 16. Vargas was also charged with lewd or lascivious conduct by an adult.

Ignite Life and the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God faced three lawsuits filed in March 2024. They were settled last October through mediation. The terms of the settlement agreements were kept sealed.

Source: Read the original report