Posted on: September 14, 2025 12:35 PM

Share : Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp

Naason JoaqiIn Garcia charged with racketeering conspiracy sex trafficking and child exploitation of members of La Luz Del Mundo church

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton; Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), Ricky J. Patel; and Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), Harry T. Chavis, Jr., announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging NAASÓN JOAQUÍN GARCÍA (“NAASÓN”), ROSA SOSA, AZALIA RANGEL GARCÍA, EVA GARCÍA DE JOAQUÍN, JORAM NÚÑEZ JOAQUÍN, and SILEM GARCÍA PEÑA with sexual, financial, and related criminal conduct victimizing members of the La Luz del Mundo (“LLDM”) Church over many years.  As alleged in the Indictment, the defendants engaged in a racketeering enterprise (the “Joaquín LLDM Enterprise”) that exploited the LLDM Church and persisted for decades to facilitate the systemic sexual abuse of children and women—including the creation of photos and videos of sadistic child sexual abuse.  For decades, the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise operated for the sexual gratification of NAASÓN and his father, the former leader of the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise, Samuel Joaquín Flores (“Samuel”), who died in 2014.

NAASÓN was taken into federal custody earlier today in Chino, California where he is serving a state sentence for the sexual abuse of minors.  GARCÍA DE JOAQUÍN was arrested in Los Angeles this morning and is expected to be presented later today in the Central District of California.  NÚÑEZ JOAQUÍN was arrested outside of Chicago this morning and is expected to be presented later today in the Northern District of Illinois.  SOSA, RANGEL GARCÍA, and GARCÍA PEÑA are at large and believed to be in Mexico.  The U.S. government will seek their arrest and extradition to face these charges in the U.S.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska.

“As alleged in the Indictment, for decades, Naasón Joaquín García and the other members of the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise used their position in and the resources of the La Luz Del Mundo Church to sexually abuse girls, boys, and women,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “They exploited the faith of their followers to prey upon them.  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.  The Indictment includes charges against those who systemically aided Naasón’s alleged sexual exploitation of teenagers and young women, including creating photos and videos of abuse and other unspeakable criminal conduct.  We commend the victims who have come forward for their extraordinary courage and desire to bring an end to decades of abuse.  This Office will hold Naasón and others who aided this alleged abuse fully accountable.”

“A yearslong investigation that spanned the country and involved the support of dozens of courageous victims culminated with today’s charges stemming from decades of alleged exploitation and outright abuse of young woman and children,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel.  “The defendants are accused of targeting individuals who gave LLDM Church their unquestioning trust and devotion and who in turn endured unimaginable crimes.  Make no mistake, the defendants’ alleged cycle of victimization ends today.  I thank the brave survivors who provided law enforcement with vital information related to these allegations, and I encourage others with helpful information to do the same.”

“Behind the legitimacy of a church and their many believing congregants, Naasón and his co-conspirators built an alleged criminal empire on the sexual abuse of women and children,” said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Harry T. Chavis, Jr.  “This illicit enterprise hid in the shadows of La Luz del Mundo church while engaging in sex trafficking, child pornography, forced labor, and unlawful financial dealings.  Each person involved is complicit in promoting then hiding these insidious acts, but it is this investigation that will bring all the years of mistreatment and sexual abuses to light.  IRS-CI and HSI special agents partnered on this case and worked closely with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to bring Naasón and his co-conspirators’ alleged crimes out of the dark for all the world to see.”

As alleged in the Indictment and documents made public in court:[1]

For decades, in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere around the world, NAASÓN, SOSA, RANGEL GARCÍA, GARCÍA DE JOAQUÍN, NÚÑEZ JOAQUÍN, and GARCÍA PEÑA abused the power, doctrine, and structure of the LLDM Church to threaten, coerce, and sexually abuse girls, boys, and women in the LLDM Church; to engage in financial crimes; and to obstruct criminal investigations into their misdeeds.  These defendants and their co-conspirators were part of the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise that carried out this scheme over the course of decades, abusing generations of Church members and then destroying evidence to evade detection by law enforcement. The defendants and their co-conspirators used the LLDM Church as a vehicle to commit sex trafficking of women and children; to induce victims, including minors, to travel to engage in forced and unlawful sex acts; to produce, receive, distribute, and possess child pornography; to employ forced labor of Church members; to illegally structure cash transactions and bulk cash smuggling; and to obstruct justice to hide their crimes.

NAASÓN, the leader of the Enterprise, managed a close circle of co-conspirators who facilitated his abuse of teenagers and young women. NAASÓN also directed his co-conspirators to produce images and videos of child sexual abuse and send them to him for his own sexual gratification.  Law enforcement has seized many of these images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of minors that were created at NAASÓN’s direction. NAASÓN also instructed co-conspirators to select young teenagers in his church for abuse and to systematically introduce the minors to NAASÓN’s illegal sexual desires through personal interactions with NAASÓN under the guise of Church activities.

 

NAASÓN and his co-conspirators manipulated the doctrine of the LLDM Church to facilitate this abuse.  Through LLDM doctrine, NAASÓN and his co-conspirators developed a culture of unquestioning faith and obedience to NAASÓN, including by teaching congregants from birth that they would be eternally damned and ostracized from their family and friends in the community if they did not obey NAASÓN or if they questioned him.  NAASÓN leveraged that fear to prevent the many teenagers and young women on whom he preyed from rejecting his sexual advances and from reporting the sexual abuse to law enforcement.

NAASÓN’s exploitation of the church and its members follows a deeply disturbing tradition established by his father (Samuel Joaquín Flores) and his grandfather (Eusebio Joaquín González, known as “Aarón”), who founded the church in Guadalajara, Mexico, in approximately 1926.  Beginning with Aarón and continuing with Samuel and then NAASÓN, each member of the Joaquín family who has served as the leader or “Apostle” has taken advantage of his position of power and control over the LLDM Church to sexually abuse, exploit, and rape its congregants.  Each leader manipulated girls and young women by conveying that they could earn a special “blessing” by serving him, which often ultimately included sexual activity, including oral sex, manual stimulation, and ultimately, penetrative sex with the victims.  This abuse occurred over the course of generations.

SOSA was one of the principal co-conspirators of Samuel and groomed for his sexual abuse and directly herself sexually abused many minors and young women for years, which grooming continued after NAASÓN became the leader of the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise.

GARCÍA DE JOAQUÍN, Samuel’s wife and NAASÓN’s mother, groomed for her husband’s sexual abuse and directly herself sexually abused minors and young women, similarly for years.

RANGEL GARCÍA was one of the principal co-conspirators of NAASÓN and groomed for his sexual abuse and directly herself sexually abused multiple minors and young women for years.

NAASÓN and other members of the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise have also corruptly used LLDM Church congregants’ money to fund NAASÓN’s sexual abuse.  Many congregants made financial contributions to the LLDM Church on the belief that their money would fund legitimate Church activities in the U.S.; in Mexico, where the Church is based; and in multiple other countries around the world where the Church is active.

NAASÓN used these donations to fund international travel, including expensive flights and hotels, for himself, his family, and young women he and his co-conspirators arranged to travel with NAASÓN to ensure he always had someone available to sexually abuse.  NAASÓN and his co-conspirators also used the funds to purchase