GAINESVILLE (FL)
New York Times [New York NY]
September 10, 2025
By Sarah Jean Maher
A former chaplain for the New York Yankees has been charged with failing to report allegations of child sex abuse to authorities.
Mark Vega, 55, who now works as the senior pastor of Ignite Life Center church in Gainesville, Fla., did not share multiple reports of sex abuse at the church with law enforcement, according to a complaint filed in Alachua County Circuit Court on Aug. 20. Any person with knowledge of sex abuse of minors is required by Florida law to report to authorities, and failure to report is a felony.
Vega, who has not been arrested, did not immediately respond to messages from The Athletic.
The Gainesville Police Department confirmed that it submitted a sworn complaint to the State Attorney regarding the charge of failing to report suspected child abuse, abandonment or neglect. Ignite Life Center is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, a global Pentecostal denomination.
According to NBC, three youth leaders, including Vega’s son, Christian, have been charged with sexually abusing minors dating back to 2023. According to a report from GPD, Vega sought to handle the allegations internally instead of alerting authorities.
“No evidence exists to indicate that DEF (Vega) made any effort to report this to or involve the Gainesville Police Department,” the sworn complaint by the police said. “Rather, the evidence obtained shows the contrary to be true; DEF (Vega) intentionally endeavored to keep this information away from authorities.”
In 2024, WUFT, the local NPR station, reported that the Gainesville church settled three lawsuits alleging that it enabled and covered up sexual abuse. In July, the station reported that new criminal charges were filed against a former church member who volunteered at the church’s summer camp.
According to news reports, Vega started working for the Yankees in 1999 and forged a close relationship with former Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, who has spoken at Assemblies of God events.
In January, Rivera was accused in a lawsuit against Refuge of Hope, a church which he helped found that is affiliated with Assemblies of God, of concealing repeated sexual assaults of a minor. The lawsuit, filed by a girl and her mother in Westchester County in New York, alleged that the girl was assaulted while she was participating in a summer internship program run by Ignite Life Center in 2018. The girl had been an active member of Refuge of Hope, according to the civil complaint.
At the time, a lawyer for Rivera and his wife, who was also accused in the lawsuit, said the couple had been “targeted by false allegations.”
Representatives for the Yankees and Rivera did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Vega.