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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Lauren Mechling

‘We were hiding in plain sight’: the horrifying story of La Luz del Mundo

‘How this didn’t get the coverage that its counterparts were getting at the same time is mind-boggling.’
‘How this didn’t get the coverage that its counterparts were getting at the same time is mind-boggling.’ Photograph: HBO Max

Mere weeks before financier Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane touched down in the New York area and the notorious pedophile was arrested on sex trafficking charges, Naasón Joaquín García disembarked from his own private jet in Los Angeles and was detained for similar reasons. The pastor of the secretive megachurch La Luz del Mundo (LLDM), who had been flying with a coterie of handmaidens and enablers, was wanted for a string of felonies, including human trafficking, production of child sexual abuse images and rape of a minor.

Epstein, who moved in elite circles and preyed on mostly blond and blue-eyed victims, would go on to become a household name. García and his purportedly religious organization, which allegedly supports the grooming of children for the pleasure of its upper rank and has a footprint in approximately 50 countries, still flies under the radar.

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