A federal judge in Chicago on Monday ordered the pastor of a local chapter of the La Luz del Mundo megachurch held in custody to face federal charges alleging he helped cover up a widespread child sex trafficking operation that authorities say victimized young members of the church for decades.
Joram Núñez Joaquín, 37, was charged in a racketeering indictment unsealed last week in U.S. District Court in New York that also named church leader Naasón Joaquín García, 56, who is his uncle, and three others, including Joaquin’s 79-year-old grandmother.
García, who is currently serving a 16-year sentence on state sex abuse charges in California, is the head of La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World), which claims to have 5 million followers in more than 50 countries. Believers consider him to be the “apostle” of Jesus Christ.
Joaquín, meanwhile, led a congregation of the church headquartered in west suburban Cicero. The charges do not allege Joaquin sexually abused anyone, but say he posed as a lawyer and coerced young victims to sign declarations that the abuse allegations were bogus. He also allegedly collected and destroyed evidence of the abuse, including sex toys and lingerie the victims were forced to wear, according to federal prosecutors.
Joaquin was arrested by more than a dozen armed federal agents early Wednesday while delivering a morning sermon from the pulpit of his church in the 1400 block of South 58th Court, according to his lawyer, Jonathan Brayman.
In asking for Joaquín’s release, Brayman argued he is a dedicated husband and father and respected leader in his community who was unfairly being “painted with a big brush” by federal authorities.
“This is a good man who has counseled and mentored people,” Brayman told U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert. “He is being portrayed as the crown prince of La Luz Del Mundo and he is certainly not.”
Brayman also said his client has long known that he was a target of a law enforcement investigation and has not tried to flee, even after he was stopped by federal agents just a month ago and questioned about his travels and the church.
Prosecutors, however, alleged Joaquín has shady finances and access to vast sums of money through the church, noting that millions of dollars in cash, gold and jewels were found in search warrants executed at the homes of other church leaders, including some hidden behind trap doors.
In recent years, Joaquín has also leased a Maserati, a BMW and a Chevy Camaro and appeared to falsify his income on loan paperwork, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Herman told the judge.
Herman also said that while Joaquín was not charged with abuse, the investigation had shown he was on a 2015 trip with other leaders when sexual misconduct occurred, and that he’d falsely claimed the professional title of attorney “in a concerted effort to prevent victims of his uncle from reporting the abuse.”
Gilbert told Joaquín that he had “serious concerns” about allowing him to go to New York to face the charges on his own, saying it’s clear he had “access to money that could fuel somebody who wants to get out of Dodge.”
The judge also said he was troubled by the discrepancies about Joaquín’s income in the car loan applications.
“If I’m going to release you, I’m going to have to trust you … and that is not a good indication of trust if you’re allegedly not telling the truth to people who are loaning you money,” Gilbert said. The judge ordered him held in custody pending arraignment in Manhattan.
Joaquín, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, did not speak during the 90-minute hearing and showed no outward reaction to the judge’s ruling.
The indictment in New York said the sexual abuse within La Luz del Mundo began decades ago under Garcia’s grandfather, who died in 1964. Garcia’s father, Samuel Joaquin Flores, led the church from then until his death.
The indictment said the sexual abuse went on for so many decades that many of the grandfather’s victims were mothers of girls and women abused by García’s father and many of the father’s victims were the mothers of girls and women abused by García.
Federal authorities said García used his spiritual sway to have sex with girls and young women who were told it would lead to their salvation — or damnation if they refused. His efforts were enabled by others, including his mother, who helped groom the girls to be sexually abused, they said.
Prosecutors said García also directed girls, boys and women to engage in group sex with each other, often in his presence, for his sexual gratification.
Sometimes, they added, he required the children to wear masks so they would not realize they were having incestual sex.
The indictment listed 13 female victims anonymously and specifically, describing when they were allegedly attacked while they were under the age of consent. Some victims, it said, were as young as 13.
The indictment said church followers were required to forward a portion of their income to the church, a portion of which would fund the García family’s extravagant lifestyle, which included luxury cars, watches, designer clothing and first-class travel worldwide.
La Luz del Mundo is based in Guadalajara, Mexico, and there are church locations throughout the United States, including in California, New York, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., according to the indictment. Prosecutors alleged sex trafficking of women and children occurred as a result of the case in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere.
García was taken into federal custody last week in Chino, California, where he is serving a sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to two state counts.
In a statement, Garcia’s attorney, Alan Jackson, called the indictment the result of “a reckless campaign of government overreach.”
He said the charges were “a rehashing of old, recycled claims that have been made before, scrutinized before, and ultimately debunked and disproven before.”
“We categorically deny these charges,” Jackson said, adding that the defense will expose them as “desperate, unfounded, recycled and driven by ulterior motives.”
The Associated Press contributed.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com