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

FILE PHOTO: Devotees of the La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World) church are seen after they prayed for their leader Naason Joaquin Garcia and against decrimination faced by their church, days after Garcia was arrested in California, U.S., in Guadalajara, Mexico June 9, 2019. REUTERS/Fernando Carranza

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -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.