Sochil Martin Sues La Luz del Mundo and Leader Naasón Joaquín García, Accusing Them of Alleged Abuse and Forced Labor

Sochil Martin, a 33-year-old Californian, claims that Naasón Joaquín García, whom she describes as the so-called “apostle” of the La Luz del Mundo church, sexually assaulted her on repeated occasions. She also alleges that he forced her to recruit minors so that they would be exploited and sexually abused by him. These are her allegations.

In an interview with BBC Mundo, Martin said that her aunt introduced her at age 9 to Samuel Joaquín Flores, Naasón’s father and a former “apostle,” so that she would take part in “erotic dances” for the then leader of the church. She said that more than twenty years of physical assaults and labor exploitation followed, first as an assistant to García and later as an unpaid employee of the church’s communications department. “Since I was 16, Naasón began to abuse me in every way,” she said.

García has been held in pretrial detention without the right to bail since June of last year, when he was arrested along with two other church members who were identified as alleged accomplices. He was charged in the Los Angeles Superior Court with child sexual abuse, child pornography, human trafficking and extortion. He has not been found guilty of these charges.

On April 7, a California appeals court determined that the Superior Court had committed technical procedural errors by failing to hold the preliminary hearing of the case on time, and it ordered the case dismissed. The prosecutor’s office told BBC Mundo the following day that it was reviewing the decision, which it said “is not final until 30 days after it was issued.” The office also confirmed that García remains in custody and said it plans to charge him again, because the decision “does not limit our ability to do so.”

The La Luz del Mundo church claims to have about 5 million followers in 58 countries, of whom 1.5 million are in Mexico. The official figures available in Mexico come from the 2010 census, which recorded 188,326 followers.

In October 2018, Martin began working with U.S. and Mexican authorities on the investigation against García and became a key witness. Four women, including three minors, later came forward alleging that they were victims of abuse. The California prosecutor’s office used their testimony to file the charges against García in early June of last year.

In early February, Martin filed a civil lawsuit on her own in a Los Angeles court. It accuses La Luz del Mundo, García and at least 12 other people connected to García and the religious institution of forced labor, human trafficking, sexual assault and other crimes. Martin said of the people named in the suit: “I know that Naasón and the people in that lawsuit are the abusers, the ones who stayed silent, helped, brought them (victims). (Those victims) are children and young people who could not say anything, and I know it because one of them was me.” Speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves is the lesson she draws from her own experience (Proverbs 31:8-9). She is seeking compensation for damages, in an amount to be determined at trial.

The spokesperson’s office for La Luz del Mundo sent a statement to BBC Mundo condemning Martin’s accusations. “It is absolutely false that the Iglesia La Luz del Mundo practices persuading boys and girls in the community to allow themselves to be abused by the religious leaders of this institution, or by anyone else; we categorically deny these allegations,” the statement says.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)