A judge on Monday set a Sept. 27 trial date for Naason Joaquin Garcia, the head of La Luz del Mundo church, who faces a slew of sex abuse charges.
Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen also ordered Susana Medina Oaxaca, who faces charges alongside Garcia, to appear in court in downtown Los Angeles then.
An attorney from the California Attorney General’s office, which is prosecuting the case, estimated that the trial could last five to seven weeks.
Garcia, 51, who is known among his followers as “the apostle,” is being held on $90-million bail and faces counts that include human trafficking, forcible rape and forcible oral copulation of a minor, and possession of child pornography. He has been charged with Alondra Ocampo, 38, and Oaxaca, 26, in a case in which prosecutors allege that girls engaged in sexual activity with Garcia under duress from both women and have claimed that the alleged victims were told that if they went against Garcia’s desires they were going against God.
Read the full story at LATimes.com.