Days after the church’s annual Holy Convocation drew crowds to Guadalajara, federal prosecutors in New York unsealed a sweeping case against La Luz del Mundo’s leader, Naasón Joaquín García, and five alleged accomplices. The indictment describes decades of sexual abuse, coercion, and financial crimes that prosecutors say weaponized faith and church structures to control victims. García, already serving more than 16 years in California, was taken into federal custody. The case now moves to a Manhattan courtroom as authorities seek co-defendants believed to be in Mexico.
What the indictment says
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say García and a tight circle used their authority to recruit, groom, and abuse girls, boys, and women over many years. The alleged enterprise, they argue, did not act on the margins. It lived inside the church’s hierarchy, traditions, and finances, and it used those tools to keep victims quiet.
The newly unsealed filing charges racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, child exploitation, and related crimes. Prosecutors say the conduct spanned the United States, Mexico, and other countries, and included the creation and possession of images of abuse. García was taken into federal custody in Chino, California, where he is serving a state sentence. His case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska in New York.
Who else is charged and where they are
Alongside García, the indictment names five alleged co-conspirators: Rosa Sosa, Azalia Rangel García, Eva García de Joaquín, Joram Núñez Joaquín, and Silem García Peña. Authorities say García’s mother, Eva, was arrested in Los Angeles. They say Joram Núñez Joaquín was arrested near Chicago. Three defendants—Sosa, Rangel García, and García Peña—are believed to be in Mexico. Prosecutors say they will seek arrests and extradition.
The filing describes a system that, for decades, rewarded obedience and punished dissent. It alleges that followers were taught they risked damnation or social exile if they questioned the leader. That spiritual pressure, prosecutors say, was paired with money and logistics that enabled travel, secrecy, and the destruction of evidence.
La Luz del Mundo charges
The La Luz del Mundo charges come with heavy potential penalties. Some counts carry mandatory minimums. Others allow for possible life sentences if a jury returns guilty verdicts. The government’s public summary also points to alleged forced labor and bulk cash smuggling, suggesting a case that extends beyond sexual crimes to the way the organization moved money and managed its inner circle.
García’s attorneys did not immediately comment. The church has not issued a detailed public response to the New York case. In past cases, leaders have denied wrongdoing and framed accusations as attacks on their faith community.
Why now, and why New York
The Southern District of New York has long taken on complex enterprise crimes with international reach. Investigators here worked with Homeland Security Investigations and IRS-Criminal Investigation, among others. The office says survivors across multiple jurisdictions helped bring the case to this point. That cooperation appears to have widened the narrative beyond individual acts to what prosecutors describe as a long-running criminal enterprise.
This federal case arrives while García serves a California sentence of 16 years and eight months after pleading guilty in 2022 to sex crimes involving minors. In 2023, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles also charged him with producing and possessing child sexual abuse material. The new New York indictment adds enterprise-level charges and additional victims to the legal picture.
The timing after Guadalajara’s Holy Convocation
Only weeks ago, hundreds of thousands of worshipers traveled to Guadalajara for the church’s Holy Convocation and Holy Supper. The annual August gathering fills the Hermosa Provincia neighborhood and satellite venues, and this year’s ceremonies ran August 10–14. The scale underscores the church’s reach at the very moment its leadership faces the most expansive U.S. case to date. For followers, the juxtaposition is jarring: public celebration followed by a public reckoning in a New York courtroom.
What comes next for victims and members
For survivors, the criminal process can reopen old wounds. Prosecutors say support resources are available and have encouraged others with information to come forward. For members who still see García as an apostle, the legal arc will test loyalties and raise questions about governance, oversight, and transparency inside one of Mexico’s most visible religious organizations.
The courtroom work now begins: detention and transfer logistics for defendants in U.S. custody, arrest efforts for those believed to be in Mexico, and early motions before Judge Preska. If the case proceeds to trial, jurors will be asked to weigh not just individual acts, but whether a system existed to make those acts possible—and to keep them hidden.
