NEW YORK (NY)
Ministry Watch [Matthews NC]
September 14, 2025
By Stacey Horton
These charges include already convicted LLDM leader Naasón Joaquin Garcia, also named with five others.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged Naasón Joaquin Garcia and other leaders of La Luz del Mundo (LLDM) — a Mexico-based evangelical megachurch — with federal sex trafficking charges. The charges allege that self-proclaimed apostle Garcia managed a criminal network within the church that sexually abused church members for generations, then destroyed evidence.
The indictment also alleges financial crimes, sex trafficking, and the production and dispersal of child pornography. Founded in 1926, the church began with Naasón’s grandfather before being transferred to his father, then to Naasón himself. Each leader has called himself an “Apostle,” leading their followers to believe the leaders could bring about their salvation.
While founded in Guadalajara, Mexico, LLDM boasts several U.S. locations in California, Washington, D.C., Nevada, Texas, and New Jersey. The church has 2.8 million followers collectively in Mexico and the United States.
Each generation is alleged to have used their authority within La Luz del Mundo to sexually exploit congregants, coercing girls and young women into believing they would receive special blessings by serving them. This manipulation, which often led to sexual acts, continued across generations of church leadership. Under Naasón Garcia’s direction, co-conspirators allegedly helped groom boys and girls as young as 13 years old for Garcia’s sexual abuse. Naasón “developed a culture of unquestioning faith and obedience,” by threatening members with eternal damnation and total community ostracism, the indictment stated.
Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said about the accused LLDM leadership, “When they were confronted, they leveraged their religious influence and financial power to intimidate and coerce victims into remaining silent about the abuse they had suffered.”
Congregants’ donated funds were used to cover Garcia’s extravagant travels and lifestyle, to purchase sex toys used in the abuse, and cleaning supplies to destroy evidence of the sexual abuse, the court documents claimed.
Following a years-long investigation, Garcia has been remanded into federal custody from Chino, California, where he was serving a state sentence for the sexual abuse of minors.
Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge, Ricky Patel, credited the success of the investigation to the bravery of the victims coming forward.
Garcia’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson, refuted the allegations in a statement recorded by the New York Times: “Every defendant is presumed innocent … That principle cannot be eroded simply because the government chooses to smear a church and its leaders with accusations it cannot prove.”
Three co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment are still at large; authorities believe them to be in hiding in Mexico. The U.S. government is seeking their arrest and extradition to the United States to face charges.