La Luz del Mundo Leaders Face Sweeping Federal Charges

La Luz del Mundo, a Mexico-based megachurch with millions of followers worldwide, faces sweeping federal charges against its top leadership. The indictment, unsealed on September 10, 2025, targets six individuals, including the church’s current “apostle,” Naasón Joaquín García, his mother, and four associates. The charges include racketeering, child pornography, and sex trafficking, marking the culmination of a years-long investigation into what prosecutors describe as a multigenerational pattern of sexual exploitation and abuse within the church’s highest ranks.

Federal authorities executed search warrants at García’s East Los Angeles home, as reported by CNN and KYMA. García, 56, is already serving a 16-year, 8-month prison sentence in California after a 2022 plea deal on state sex abuse charges. He was moved into federal custody in Chino, California, the same day the indictment was unsealed. His mother, 79-year-old Eva García de Joaquín, was also arrested in Los Angeles. The other defendants—Joram Núñez Joaquín, Silem García Peña, Rosa Sosa, and Azalia Rangel García—face similar charges, with some believed to be at large in Mexico, according to NPR.

Joram Núñez Joaquín, 37, led a congregation in Cicero, Illinois. He was arrested by more than a dozen armed federal agents during a morning sermon, as highlighted by the Chicago Tribune. Núñez Joaquín is accused of posing as a lawyer to silence victims, coercing them to sign false declarations, and destroying evidence—including sex toys and lingerie that victims were forced to wear. Prosecutors allege he also falsified income on loan applications and leased luxury cars such as a Maserati, BMW, and Chevy Camaro, raising questions about the church’s finances. During a detention hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert expressed “serious concerns” about Núñez Joaquín’s access to money and discrepancies in his financial records, ordering him held in custody pending arraignment in Manhattan.

The indictment paints a grim picture of systemic abuse that, prosecutors say, began under García’s grandfather, Aarón Joaquin Gonzalez, who founded La Luz del Mundo nearly a century ago. The pattern continued with García’s father, Samuel Joaquín Flores, and then García himself. The court documents allege that “on at least one occasion, [Samuel’s wife Eva García de Joaquín] held down a minor victim so that Samuel could rape the victim.” Many girls and women abused by one generation of church leaders remained in the church and became mothers to the next generation, perpetuating the cycle of harm.

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