![]() ![]() Some of their own family members didn't believe them. When they finally turned on Garcia, they found themselves isolated and suffering in silence. The women said they had only known life in the church - praying three times a day. "They reminded me I must serve the Lord without question," said Jane Doe 5, who described how she was told to dance in lingerie for Garcia and it quickly escalated to painfully losing her virginity. The women said they were called angels and were told they were Garcia's property. Prosecutors said he used his spiritual sway to have sex with female followers and was aided by others in the church who groomed the women and facilitated the abuse. Anyone who still believes he's God is complicit and they're supporting a child molester." They thought he was basically God on Earth," Fusco said of the victims. She said their courage had saved others' lives. Patricia Fusco, supervising deputy attorney general, tearfully praised the victims for their bravery in standing up to Garcia and his followers who have rallied around him and shamed the young women. ![]() "The Apostle of Jesus Christ has had no choice but to accept with much pain that the agreement presented is the best way forward to protect the church and his family," the church said. The agreement would allow him to be freed sooner. ![]() #Internet blackouts skyrocket amid global unrest trial#The church, which is also known as the Light of the World, said in a statement that Garcia pleaded guilty because he didn't think he could get a fair trial after prosecutors withheld or doctored evidence. "The world has heard you," he told the five weeping Jane Does and their supporters. They implored Coen to impose a stiffer sentence but he said his hands were tied by the agreement. The victims objected to the plea deal, saying they only learned about it at the last minute and were not consulted. In exchange, prosecutors dropped 16 counts that included allegations of raping children and women, as well as human trafficking to produce child pornography. Garcia pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and one count of a lewd act upon a child who was 15. He sat upright and looked straight ahead with this hands shackled at his waist. Garcia, dressed in orange jail scrubs and wearing a surgical mask pulled under his glasses, didn't turn to face the women. "He used me over and over again like a sacrificial lamb taken to slaughter." "I worshipped my abuser," said a woman identified as Jane Doe 4, who said she was his niece. ![]() But in court they called him "evil" and a "monster," "disgusting human waste" and the "antichrist." They had once been his most devoted servants - even after the abuse began. The sentence came after nearly three hours of emotional statements by five young women Garcia had been charged with abusing. "I never cease to be amazed at what people do in the name of religion and how many lives are ruined in the guise of a supreme being," said Judge Ronald Coen, who called Garcia a sexual predator. Garcia, who is considered the "apostle" of Jesus Christ by his 5 million worldwide followers, 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. Naason Joaquin Garcia, 53, abruptly pleaded guilty last week in Los Angeles Superior Court to three felonies on the eve of a long-awaited trial. The leader of the Mexican megachurch La Luz del Mundo was sentenced Wednesday to more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing female followers who said he made them his sex slaves. ![]()
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