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Reuters
Reuters
World
Norma Galeana and Steve Gorman

Mexican megachurch leader given nearly 17 years in U.S. prison for child sex abuse

Naason Joaquin Garcia United States La Luz del Mundo Los Angeles Alondra Ocampo Mexico
FILE PHOTO: Devotees of the La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World) church are seen after they prayed for their leader Naason Joaquin Garcia and against decrimination faced by their church, days after Garcia was arrested in California, U.S., in Guadalajara, Mexico June 9, 2019. REUTERS/Fernando Carranza

The head of a Mexico-based evangelical megachurch that claims about 5 million followers worldwide was sentenced on Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom to 16 years and eight months in prison for sexually abusing three girls.

Naason Joaquin Garcia, leader and self-styled apostle of the Guadalajara-based church La Luz del Mundo (Light of the World), pleaded guilty last Friday to two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and performing a lewd act on a child.

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