Naasón Joaquín García, the leader of the Mexico-based evangelical megachurch La Luz del Mundo, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges in a New York court. García, 56, is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in California after admitting to sexually abusing girls from his congregation. A recently unsealed indictment alleges that García, his mother, and four associates used the church to traffic women and children to the United States. The defendants have denied all charges, with García’s lawyer dismissing the allegations as “recycled claims” that have been previously debunked. La Luz del Mundo, founded in 1926 by García’s grandfather, Eusebio Joaquín González, is a fundamentalist Christian organization with millions of followers worldwide. Despite García’s 2022 guilty plea in Los Angeles, many church members remain loyal, viewing him as “the Apostle of Jesus Christ.” The indictment, released by the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, accuses García and his co-defendants of sex trafficking, child pornography, forced labor, and unlawful financial dealings. US Attorney Jay Clayton stated that the defendants “exploited the faith of their followers to prey upon them” and used their religious influence to silence victims. Prosecutors claim that García continued a disturbing tradition established by his father and grandfather, who allegedly manipulated young women into sexual activity under the guise of earning “special blessings.” La Luz del Mundo has publicly denied the allegations, calling them “unfounded, untrue, and slanderous.”