California court dismisses case against Mexico
megachurch leader on technicality
Pedophile pastor in Pennsylvania allegedly tried to hire hitman to kill church leader
By Lee Brownmegachurch leader on technicality
By Danielle Haynes
(UPI) -- A California appeals court has dismissed the human-trafficking and child rape case against the leader of a Mexico-based megachurch.
California's 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George Lomeli to dismiss the charges against Naason Joaquin Garcia on Wednesday.
The appellate court said the case had to be dismissed because Garcia's preliminary hearing wasn't held in a timely manner.
His lawyer, Alan Jackson, said the court "struck a major blow for justice."
"This is a long-overdue recognition that the government has violated Mr. Garcia's constitutional right to a speedy trial and reasonable bond," Jackson said in an email to UPI.
"In their zeal to secure a conviction at any cost, the attorney general has sought to strip Mr. Garcia of his freedom without due process by locking him up without bail on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations by unnamed accusers and by denying him his day in court.
"This is a good day for justice."
Unless you are a child or an adult survivor of child sex abuse or child trafficking, then, it's just another day of being ignored. Another day of injustice. Another pedophile walks away to resume his perversion and assaults on women and children.
If you are in one of his churches, get out of it now, while you still can.
Authorities arrested Garcia and two co-defendants in June for alleged crimes committed between 2015 and 2018. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office charged him with 17 counts, including human trafficking, possession of child porn, child rape, forcible oral copulation, extortion and conspiracy.
Garcia, also known as Joaquin Garcia, leads the La Luz Del Mundo (Light of the World) evangelical church in Guadalajara, Mexico, which has many members in Los Angeles and 1 million members worldwide.
Prosecutors said in the complaint that García and his co-defendants coerced victims into performing sex acts by telling them that if they refused, it would be going against God.
The church considers Garcia to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.
He may be an apostle, but I seriously doubt that it's of Jesus Christ.
Three of the four alleged victims were children. An adult and child were raped, according to the complaint. The accusations include human trafficking and forcing children to perform oral sex.
According to the complaint, Garcia in September 2017 allegedly coerced a group of minors to perform "flirty" dances while in "as little clothing as possible" and gave them speeches about kings having mistresses and said an apostle cannot be judged for his actions.
True apostles don't need to be judged. False apostles will be judged in a Higher Court that is much more efficient.
Pedophile pastor in Pennsylvania allegedly tried to hire hitman to kill church leader
NYPost
A Pennsylvania youth pastor imprisoned for impregnating a 16-year-old girl tried to hire a hitman to kill the leader of his mega-church as well as the judge who threw him behind bars, according to authorities.
Jacob Malone, 37, was serving three to six years in state prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting the teenage girl who gave birth to his child, Chester County’s District Attorney revealed.
While inside, he offered $5,000 for someone to kill Pastor Harold Lee Wiggins, his boss at Calvary Fellowship Church in Exton who he blamed for contacting police about his abuse of the girl, prosecutors allege.
“The defendant also told the inmate that he would be willing to offer additional money for the murder of Judge [Jacqueline] Cody, who presided over the sexual assault case,” the DA’s release alleges.
He was particularly infuriated by the judge who handed him a stiffer sentence than one that he’d bargained for, according to the Daily Local News.
Malone was busted after a cellmate came forward to cops. He was charged by state police with attempted murder, criminal solicitation, attempted aggravated assault and terroristic threats, the DA said.
“The District Attorney’s Office is deeply concerned about these extremely serious allegations,” District Attorney Deb Ryan said, stressing that the two alleged targets “are safe.”
The former pastor was initially arrested in January 2016 after the girl gave birth to his child and implicated him in sexually assaulting her, the Daily Local News said.
She thought of him as a father figure, but he took advantage of her “mentally, physically, spiritually,” she told cops, saying the “godly man” proved himself “something else when no one was watching.”
Malone pleaded guilty in April 2017, expecting a plea-deal sentence of two to four years, the paper said.
But Judge Cody surprised him at sentencing, rejecting the lighter sentence and hitting him with three to six years, because the victim wanted him to serve more time for what the judge called his “inexcusable” crimes.
“You are serving a sentence much lighter than the crime deserves,” Cody told a handcuffed and shackled Malone at the time, according to the paper.
Malone is still serving time in State Correctional Institute Phoenix in Skippack Township, Montgomery County. It was unclear whether he had yet been arraigned on the attempted murder charges.
Neither Wiggins nor Cody responded to the paper’s requests for comment.
Former Steubenville, Oh, pastor sentenced on
child sex charges
by Alex Taylor, WTOV9
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio — A former pastor of Tower of Power Church in Steubenville has been convicted of sex charges.
Everett Mitchell was sentenced to 2 years in prison, plus 30 days in jail, and he’ll have a new title for life -- Tier III sex offender.
"There is an obligation to protect the public,” Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said. “He is still a very young man. Because the nature of these sentences limit how much prison the court can impose, he will be out and it is important for the public to know who he is and what he has done."
The victim, now 26 years old, was only 12 when the abuse began in 2006 through 2010 in Mitchell’s home, where she also lived.
Mitchell was supposed to be a guardian. Instead, he acted as a predator, Hanlin said.
"Then to become a teenager, come home from his service, and be bent over a desk while he tries to penetrate you, he should serve two separate sentences for those offenses," Hanlin said.
The victim said she had to live with the shame guilt and humiliation caused by Everett's actions while he was constantly supported and esteemed in and out of the public eye.
"The court has yet to hear such an articulate authentic and thorough recitation of the full impact of a crime like this, not just as a victim, but society as a whole," Judge Michelle Miller said.
Mitchell will spend 2 years in the penitentiary, followed by 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to all seven counts of sexual battery and imposition.
Mitchell will be required to register as a sex offender for life, and be under 5-year, post-release control.
"The court finds nothing in your behavior here so far has exhibited any drop one single iota of a sense of remorse," Miller said.
Mitchell is no longer the pastor of tower of power church.
In fact, the church seems to be closed!
Ex-North Charleston pastor accused of child sex abuse pleads guilty to assault, avoids jail time
By Sara Coello scoello@postandcourier.com
Months after his arrest on child sex charges, a former North Charleston pastor has pleaded guilty to assault and avoided jail time.
Judge Markley Dennis sentenced Heyward in North Charleston to the maximum penalty of three years in prison, but suspended the punishment to 18 months probation, according to court records.
It’s unclear whether Heyward, who lives in Monck’s Corner, still works in the ministry. He served at Eternity Church in North Charleston when he was arrested in July 2019.
Police records allege that Heyward had inappropriately touched and spoken to a child several times between 2012 and 2015.
Clearfield, UT, police arrest former LDS youth leader
on multiple child sex abuse charges
By MARK SHENEFELT Standard-Examiner
Caution - Graphic descriptions in this story
CLEARFIELD — Clearfield police arrested a man Thursday on suspicion of multiple felony sexual abuse charges involving a 14-year-old boy.
Isakson had occupied a position of trust as a youth leader of the victim, the statement said.
Clearfield Assistant Police Chief Devin Rogers said Isakson had a leadership position over the boy about two years ago in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rogers said Isakson no longer held that position during the time of the alleged offenses, which he said occurred over a five-week period beginning in November 2019.
Rogers said Isakson reportedly confided in his wife about the alleged incidents and she informed a church leader. Rogers said the church then notified police.
Officers booked Isakson into the Davis County Jail in Farmington on suspicion of four first-degree felony counts of forcible sodomy, two second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse, one second-degree count of enticing a minor by internet or text and a third-degree felony charge of dealing in materials harmful to a minor.
As of Friday morning, no formal charges had been filed against Isakson, who did not yet have an attorney of record.
Isakson remained jailed in lieu of $115,000 bail.
Further details of Isakson’s youth leadership role were not immediately known.
Second District Court records show Isakson’s wife filed for divorce in February.
Lovejoy youth leader accused of child sexual abuse
in NY CVA suit
By: Charlie Spechtin NY CVA suit
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Paul D. Gaeta, the Lovejoy youth leader who was the subject of a 7 Eyewitness News investigation last year, is now accused of abusing another young boy in the 1980s.
The Child Victims Act lawsuit, filed Monday in State Supreme Court by a Buffalo man using a pseudonym, alleges that Gaeta sexually abused him "on multiple occasions when he was approximately 10 years old, in or about 1985."
It states that Gaeta, who was the executive director of the Advisory Board for Lovejoy Elderly and Youth, came into contact with the boy through the neighborhood not-for-profit.
Advisory Board for Lovejoy Elderly and Youth (Abley) is a family services agency in Buffalo, NY.
As a result of the alleged abuse, the lawsuit states, the alleged victim "sustained severe personal physical and psychological injuries that have negatively harmed and impacted him" throughout his life.
The not-for-profit was founded and was led for years by former Buffalo Common Councilman Norman Bakos, and the suit also names the City of Buffalo, because of its association with Bakos, as a defendant. Bakos is now deceased.
The lawsuit references Gaeta's 1978 arrest in Delaware Park on felony sex crime charges involving an 11-year-old boy. The charges were dismissed, the record was sealed and Gaeta then went on to work with children in multiple posts. He later became a federal agent before his past resurfaced.
It also states that Gaeta "was given access to Buffalo Public School No. 43 minor student attendance records through a program entitled 'Open Lighthouse.'"
The lawsuit was filed by Buffalo attorney J. Michael Hayes and his associate, William J. Gerken, who credited Lovejoy community leader Linda Hastreiter with keeping the issue of justice for sexual abuse victims alive for decades.
"She was heavily involved in her neighborhood community and has been advocating for this since 1989," Gerken said.
Hastreiter said it took three decades "for the cover-up to be told. Hopefully this will bring out some of the many victims of this monster and they will get the help needed to heal," Hastreiter said.
Gaeta now lives in Arizona. Through his son, he declined to comment last year on the I-Team investigation. Reached by phone Tuesday, Gaeta's son said he would inform his father about the lawsuit and call back.
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