Mexico-based megachurch leader sentenced in U.S. to 16-plus years for child sex abuse

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 week to forcible oral copulation and performing a lewd act on minors, three days before he had been due to stand trial on rape, human trafficking and child pornography charges. Several of his accusers appeared in court on Wednesday to decry the plea agreement as too lenient, saying they were not consulted in the deal that Garcia, 53, reached with the California attorney general's office.

In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed the most serious charges Garcia had faced.

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