Leaders of a Los Angeles church arrested in human trafficking and immigration fraud inquiry
LA TimesThree top administrators at a Los Angeles church have been arrested in connection with an investigation into immigration fraud and human trafficking, authorities said. Once in the United States, the members were forced to surrender their passports and engage in sham marriages to stay in the country and fundraise full-time for the church, which referred to them as “miracle workers.” Workers who escaped from the church told the FBI that they were dispatched across the U.S. to solicit donations for Children’s Joy Foundation USA, a nonprofit that was supposed to benefit poor children in their homeland. Arrested in Van Nuys on Wednesday were Guia Cabactulan, 59, the top official at the church in in the United States, and Marissa Duenas, 41, who allegedly handled fraudulent immigration documents for church workers. The FBI has also executed search warrants at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ’s Van Nuys compound, the Children’s Joy Foundation USA offices in Glendale and three other locations in Los Angeles, as well as two locations in Hawaii linked to the church.
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Three leaders of Philippines-based church in Van Nuys indicted on human trafficking, immigration charges
LA Times
Philippine church denies FBI allegations, to fight in court
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