Attorney calls California charges against Mexican church leader 'high-tech hit job'

FILE PHOTO: Naason Joaquin Garcia, the head of a Mexican-based church La Luz Del Mundo, which prosecutors say has more than 1 million followers worldwide, is arraigned in a courtroom in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 5, 2019.  REUTERS/Kyle Grillot/File Photo

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The head of a Mexico-based church charged in Los Angeles with multiple sex crimes, including rape of a minor and a woman, is the victim of false accusations in a "high-tech hit job", his attorney said on Friday.

An attorney for La Luz Del Mundo (Light of the World) church leader Naason Joaquin Garcia defended his client one day after California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra appealed for more people to come forward who may have been sexually abused.