GAINESVILLE (FL)
Alachua Chronicle [Alachua County, FL]
April 9, 2026
By Staff report
Christian David Vargas, 22, was arrested on April 7 on a warrant for lewd and lascivious battery of a victim under 16 years of age; the victim in this case is the third to accuse him of engaging in sexual intercourse with girls under the age of 16, and all of the alleged incidents occurred at Ignite Life Center (404 NW 13th Avenue), where Vargas’s father, Mark Vega, was the senior pastor.
Vega has been charged with failing to report suspected child abuse, related to four cases in which he allegedly knew that young men were having sex with underage girls at the church but failed to report the incidents to law enforcement; Gabriel Hernandez was sentenced to five years in prison, Noel Cruz was sentenced to three years of probation, and the two cases against Vargas are still open.
Click here to read the article about the first two cases against Vargas.
According to the latest sworn complaint filed against Vargas, the victim, who was 15 at the time of the alleged incidents, reported the incidents to law enforcement in July 2023. The victim and her family were members at Ignite Life Center, and the victim told a Gainesville Police Department detective that she and Vargas, who was 17 at the time, exchanged “flirtatious and sexual” messages on Discord and Snapchat.
The victim said she first agreed to meet Vargas for sex in June 2021, and they met in a room at the church known as “The Furnace,” which had a couch. Three days later, she said, they met for sex again in “The Covenant Room,” which had cots and mattresses at the time because the church was preparing for the Ignite Life Summer Internship program. She said she met him again in “The Furnace” later that week, and they had sexual intercourse again; a few months later, they reportedly met to have sexual intercourse in a locked room above the main sanctuary, and the victim said that Vargas entered a code to enter the room. The victim said the last two incidents, in December 2021, occurred in the men’s bathroom near “The Furnace.”
The victim reportedly said that Vargas told her to buy condoms and to get a “Plan B” pill because his parents watched him “like a hawk,” so he could not make the purchases. She said their meetings were brief because Vargas had to “sneak away” to meet her.
The detective reported that in messages from December 2021, the victim told Vargas she didn’t want to have anything more to do with him, and Vargas reportedly pleaded with her to continue having sex with him; he reportedly offered to give her vapes (containing nicotine and/or marijuana) if she would continue having sex with him.
Vargas has been charged with lewd and lascivious battery with a victim under the age of 16. He has no local criminal history but is facing two other cases with similar charges. Judge Robert Groeb set bail at $250,000 in the warrant for Vargas’s arrest, and Vargas has posted bail.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law