To avoid a trial on more serious accusations, including numerous counts of rape, Naason Joaquin Garcia accepted a plea agreement. The leader of an evangelical megachurch was sentenced to more than sixteen years in prison for sexually abusing three minors.

As part of a plea bargain, Naason Joaquin Garcia, the leader and self-proclaimed apostle of the Guadalajara-based church La Luz del Mundo (Light of the World), admitted to two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and performing a lewd act on a child in order to avoid trial for much more serious offences, including multiple counts of rape.

Several of his accusers, however, stated that they were not informed about the plea agreement and that the 16 years and 8 months sentence was too mild.

In victim impact statements made during Wednesday’s hearing in Los Angeles, all five victims stated that they were deprived of the opportunity to face Garcia more directly.

One of the unidentified accusers wept while telling Garcia: “We held you in high regard; you were our god, but you deceived us.

You are nothing more than an abuser and a predator.”

Another individual, who identified herself as Garcia’s niece, stated, “Naason and this church have destroyed my life.”

Garcia’s conviction concludes an investigation that began in 2018 and resulted in his arrest the following year at Los Angeles International Airport with Susana Medina Oaxaca, who pleaded guilty to a charge of assault likely to cause grave bodily harm last Friday.

Founded in the 1920s, La Luz del Mundo is the largest evangelical church in Mexico, with branches in 50 countries and around 5 million members.

When a Los Angeles judge ordered Garcia to stand trial in August 2020, the church issued a statement defending its leader as being falsely accused, citing “unsubstantiated anonymous allegations” and “blatant hearsay” as the basis for the charges against him.