Woman Sentenced in La Luz del Mundo Church Sex Crime Case

Naasón Joaquín García, leader of the Mexican-based La Luz del Mundo church, was arrested in June 2019 at Los Angeles International Airport, and his former assistant, Alondra Ocampo, was arrested in the same month. According to one report, Ocampo was originally charged with 21 of the 36 charges against García.

In 2020, Ocampo pleaded guilty to three counts of contact with a minor for the purpose of committing a sexual offense and one count of forcible sexual penetration. One report describes the plea as made in October 2020 and identifies the fourth count as sexual assault by force. According to that report, Ocampo’s cooperation with the California Attorney General’s Office played a key role in the case against García.

García later pleaded guilty, which one report says allowed him to avoid a trial. He pleaded guilty in April 2023 and was ordered to serve 16 years and eight months in prison for three counts of sexual assault on minors. He is expected to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

NBC Los Angeles reported that Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen sentenced Ocampo on a Wednesday to four years in state prison. Supervising Deputy Attorney General Patricia Fusco noted Ocampo’s cooperation and early acknowledgment of guilt, and suggested that Ocampo may have been a victim of García. The report said Ocampo had been in custody since her June 2019 arrest and had already served most of her prison term.

Telemundo 52 reported a different outcome. Its report, headlined as a story about Ocampo’s release, said she was freed after serving three and a half years of a four-year sentence, following a parole decision documented by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The two reports do not agree on whether Ocampo was newly sentenced or had already been released, and the sources do not explain the difference. Because the reports describe the sentence and release differently, the timing of her custody status cannot be settled from these accounts alone.

Separately, NBC Los Angeles reported that Susana Oaxaca, 27, pleaded guilty earlier this year to assault likely to cause great bodily injury. She was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of psychiatric counseling, and time already served. The report did not state a connection between Oaxaca’s case and the case involving García or Ocampo. Speaking up for those who cannot protect themselves, as the prosecution’s handling of García’s victims required, is a matter of justice (Proverbs 31:8-9).