The Brief

Six leaders of the Mexico-based La Luz del Mundo megachurch — including its current "apostle," Naasón Joaquín García, his mother and four associates — are facing federal charges of racketeering, child pornography and sex trafficking, under a recently unsealed indictment. Maximum penalties for some of the offenses include life in prison.

García, 56, has been serving a 16-year, 8-month prison sentence in California, after reaching a plea deal in 2022 on state sex abuse charges.

García was moved into federal custody on Wednesday, authorities said as the indictment was unsealed. On the same day, his mother, 79-year-old Eva García de Joaquín, was arrested in Los Angeles. His attorney says that García is innocent.

"We categorically deny these charges," García's defense attorney Alan Jackson said in a statement to NPR. "We reject the grotesque portrait painted by the government and its allies."

Get the backstory: The power of La Luz Del Mundo’s 'apostle' — even behind bars

Survivors hail 'a good day' 

Prosecutors claim the family that has led La Luz del Mundo — or "Light of the World" — for nearly 100 years also used it to facilitate sexual abuse across successive generations. The indictment alleges that García, his late father, Samuel Joaquín Flores, and grandfather Aarón Joaquin Gonzalez, who founded the church, systematically abused their followers, aided by relatives and employees.

"On at least one occasion, [Samuel's wife Eva García de Joaquín] held down a minor victim so that Samuel could rape the victim," the indictment alleges.

In many cases, girls and women abused by one leader remained in the church and became the mothers of the next leader's victims, prosecutors claim.

"So many survivors have been speaking up now" from Mexico and the U.S., Sochil Martin, 39, a former church member who has cooperated with authorities investigating García, tells NPR.

Martin says the church's elite oversaw generations of abuse, noting that her aunt, who is now in her 60s, says she was assaulted by Samuel and his wife when she was a teenager. Now the apostles' victims are welcoming news of the federal charges, she says.

"It was a good day for her," Martin says of her aunt's reaction. "Even though Samuel left this world and didn't pay his debt to society and to the kids that he abused, at least his wife is now living to see that day. And that's a form of justice for a lot of survivors."

Court documents lay out depraved crimes 

In a search of Los Angeles homes belonging to Naasón Joaquín García and his mother, Eva García de Joaquín, officers seized "well over $1 million in U.S. currency," along with foreign cash and a trove of valuables, according to federal prosecutors.

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Department of Justice / Screenshot by NPR

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In federal court filings, prosecutors claim García engaged in depraved and unspeakable acts against minor boys and girls and women, including rape, forced incest and what are described as "sadistic sexual rituals for his sexual gratification."

Arguing against bail for those in custody, prosecutors said in a memo that García, widely called Naasón, and others "victimized at least dozens of minor and adult LLDM Church members in Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere." Some victims were as young as 13, the document stated. It added that the leaders trafficked victims on international trips to Asia, Europe, Africa, Mexico, and the U.S. — and used the victims to help smuggle money.

Along with García and his mother, the indictment lists four other defendants:

• Joram Núñez Joaquín, 37, a relative and law school graduate. He's accused of posing as a practicing lawyer, silencing victims and witnesses, and destroying evidence;
• Silem García Peña, 43, who led the church's public relations arm and allegedly worked to prevent victims from reporting abuse;
• Rosa Sosa, 59, and Azalia Rangel García, 46, both accused of "grooming" victims and abusing minors and young women.

Núñez Joaquín was arrested on Wednesday outside Chicago; the other three defendants are believed to be at large in Mexico.

Jackson, the defense attorney, says the allegations against García are unfounded and part of a "reckless campaign of government overreach." He says the charges stem from disgruntled former congregation members, and predicts that they will be disproven in court.

Search turns up a safe hidden under a trap door

At Eva García de Joaquín's home, law enforcement officers found a trapdoor in a bedroom that concealed an underground safe and a dehumidifier. The safe held large amounts of cash along with gold coins and a USB drive, prosecutors say.

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Law enforcement officers searching the family's two adjoining homes in East Los Angeles found more than $1 million in cash, along with "numerous gold coins, pure gold and platinum pieces, luxury watches, and jewelry," prosecutors said in the detention memo.

A trapdoor was discovered under a bed in García's mother's house, revealing stairs leading to an underground compartment holding a built-in safe, according to the memo. Inside, officers found stacks of cash totaling around $220,000, jewelry, a jade-wrapped USB drive and gold coins.

The family has "access to vast internationally accessible wealth," the prosecutors said as they argued for continued detention. They also noted that one defendant, Rangel García, has been at large and is believed to be in Mexico since being named in California state charges in 2019.

The indictment seeks the forfeit of multiple properties, including three homes in Los Angeles and a rural home in San Bernardino County, Calif.

Church leaders have 'extreme' power, filmmaker says

An aerial view from 2023 shows followers of Iglesia La Luz Del Mundo (Light of the World, at center) in the streets of Guadalajara in Jalisco State, Mexico.

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Ulises Ruiz

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The nondenominational Christian church, and Martin and other accusers' claims against it, were featured in a 2022 HBO documentary, Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo, which depicted the apostle who leads the church as having complete control over its members.

"The power that they wield is extreme," Unveiled director Jennifer Tiexiera told NPR's Here & Now in 2022. "The members believe that that's the direct connection to God himself."

Followers who speak out against the apostle or the church are ostracized and threatened with violence, according to Martin.

"It is the mafia. That's what it is," she says. "And it's disguised as a church."

Among rank-and-file members of the church, Tiexiera has said she's met many people who are intent on religious service: "It's not the membership that's wholly corrupt," she told The Los Angeles Times. "It's the hierarchy. And that breaks my heart."

Church claims to have millions of followers 

Prosecutors accuse García and his five co-defendants of producing child pornography and benefiting from forced labor – and sustaining their activities through illegal financial operations and obstructions of justice.

"They exploited the faith of their followers to prey upon them," U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said as the charges were announced. "When they were confronted, they leveraged their religious influence and financial power to intimidate and coerce victims into remaining silent about the abuse they had suffered."

The federal charges follow years of investigation and help from dozens of victims — a process that is continuing, according to Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel.

"I thank the brave survivors who provided law enforcement with vital information related to these allegations," he said, "and I encourage others with helpful information to do the same."

The case in New York's Southern District is assigned to District Judge Loretta Preska, who has also handled sex-trafficking proceedings related to the late Jeffrey Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell.

La Luz del Mundo is based in Guadalajara, Mexico, but it has substantial operations and holdings in the U.S., including a large church and residences in Los Angeles. Other churches and properties listed in court filings are in New York, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

The church currently claims more than 6 million followers and operates in more than 60 countries, according to a recent story by El Occidental, a newspaper in Guadalajara. In their indictment, U.S. prosecutors said that reliable membership numbers were not available.
Copyright 2025 NPR

An upgrade to the website used to make camping reservations within California State Parks may have you locked out of your account — just as highly-sought-after campsites are being released for the summer. 

The overhaul, which happened in late October of last year, requires anyone who had a ReserveCalifornia account before the change to reauthenticate their account before making any camping reservations.

That means if you’re planning on logging on at 8 a.m. to snag a campsite for a busy summer weekend, you may get caught in login troubles while other people are snapping up your top choice.

If you have a ReserveCalifornia account, keep reading for step-by-step instructions on what to do now — so you’ll be ready when summer reservations become available.

Jump straight to:

• What should people with existing ReserveCalifornia accounts do?
• What about those who never had an account?

What happened to the California State Parks reservation website?

On Oct. 29, 2025, the ReserveCalifornia website, which California State Parks uses to help visitors book campsites and other park amenities, underwent a system upgrade, said Adeline Yee, a spokesperson for the agency.

That upgrade helped improve the system’s operations and incorporated multi-factor authentication for users, requiring anyone trying to log into an account to provide a code sent to their email address to improve system security.

A public campground near Camp Richardson is shown on Aug. 4, 2013, in South Lake Tahoe, California. (George Rose/Getty Images)An email about the changes was sent to ReserveCalifornia account holders in advance of the Oct. 29 switchover, Yee said — but the initial instructions it contained for reauthenticating accounts, encouraging users to use a “Forgot Password?” link, didn’t actually work on the version of the website that went live on that date.

The day after the update went live, Yee said, state parks added a banner alert to ReserveCalifornia with updated login directions – which now required even existing account-holders to hit “Create Account” to reauthenticate their details.

Yee said while the update affected all 1.2 million ReserveCalifornia accounts, only around 400,000 of those accounts have been active in the past two years. During the first five days after the update, the ReserveCalifornia customer service line saw a 30% increase in calls and emails, Yee said — around 300 more inquiries per day than normal.

“State Parks apologizes for the confusion and inconvenience and will work with ReserveCalifornia so future website updates and account enhancements go smoother,” Yee said.

I have a ReserveCalifornia account, and I want to reserve a state parks campsite soon. What should I do?

First, don’t panic. Your account is still active, and your reservation and account history haven’t been lost — so if you were signed up for the lottery of a must-have spot like the Steep Ravine Cabins, you’re still on the list.

But you will have to go through a couple of steps to log back in – and it may take a few minutes, so it’s best to do it before you’re racing others to get a prime camping spot this summer.

Campsites are filled at Half Moon Bay State Beach in Half Moon Bay, California, on June 29, 2010. (Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)How to reauthenticate and reactivate your ReserveCalifornia account:

Go to “Log In/Sign Up” on the top right of ReserveCalifornia.com, and click the “Create an Account” link.

Then, use the same email address of your existing account, and re-set up your profile. You can use the password you previously used for your ReserveCalifornia account, or create a new one.

Once you do so, your new ReserveCalifornia account should be automatically linked to your old one, Yee said — and you’ll be immediately able to make campsite reservations once more.

If you got an email or searched the web and got different instructions, like those saying to hit the “Forgot Password” button — ignore those.

And if you’re still having trouble or are stuck in password reset purgatory, try refreshing the page and starting over — or call ReserveCalifornia between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST at 800-444-7275.

I’m new to ReserveCalifornia. What should I know?

New account users shouldn’t have any issues. Simply go to ReserveCalifornia.com, hit the “Sign Up” button in the top right corner and create a new account.

Make sure you know the reservation policies at state parks, as they’ve just changed this year — and make canceling campsites more costly in an effort to keep more reservations open.

And you should know that campsite and cabin reservations open up to six months in advance at 8 a.m., so if you have big summer plans to get out into the wilderness, you may want to check now for availability. Read our full guide on how to snag desirable California campsites for summer 2026.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he was blindsided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal Thursday to curtail the superintendent’s duties and he disagrees with it, although it’s unclear what he can do to stop it.

“Tony Thurmond is proud and grateful to work with Gov. Newsom. They’re both champions of public education,” said Elizabeth Sanders, spokeswoman for the California Department of Education, which Thurmond heads. Sanders was speaking on behalf of the superintendent.

“Unfortunately, on this particular issue they are not aligned.”

In his State of the State address on Thursday, Newsom proposed shifting oversight of the Department of Education, a 2,000-employee state agency, from the superintendent to the State Board of Education. The move would concentrate more power over K-12 schools with the governor, who appoints the school board.

The superintendent would remain an elected position, but with diminished and less defined duties.

Referencing a December report from Policy Analysis for California Education, Newsom’s aim is to simplify California’s convoluted system of K-12 school governance. Currently, education leadership comes from the governor, the Legislature, the State Board of Education, the superintendent and the Department of Education — who may or may not have the same vision for how to best run schools and teach children. At the local level, school boards and county offices of education also have a good deal of power over budgets and day-to-day school operations.

The result of the many-headed leadership structure is that schools often don’t know which policies to follow, according to the PACE report. Guidelines can be contradictory, redundant or just plain incoherent, researchers found.

A slew of education advocacy groups have supported Newsom’s proposal, saying it will clarify a system that’s been confusing and inefficient for a century. California is one of only a handful of states with such an education governance model.

‘Unnecessary disruption’

Thurmond’s staff had a few hints that an announcement might be forthcoming, but otherwise was caught off guard by Newsom’s proposal, Sanders said. They also hadn’t talked to PACE researchers about their report, although PACE staff said they reached out to the department prior to the report's publication.

Thurmond questions the point of the change, Sanders said.

“It’s unclear how this would benefit students and families,” Sanders said. “It’s an unnecessary disruption. … We should be staying focused on creating results for students.”

If the governor really wanted to help schools, he should pour more money into K-12 education. The Department of Education has been underfunded for years, she noted, and schools could use more funds for initiatives like tutoring and mandatory kindergarten.

John Affeldt, managing attorney at Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm focused on education, also questioned the value of Newsom’s proposal. It would take power away from the voters and give it to the governor, which might be great if the governor supports public education but may backfire if a governor doesn’t, he said.

“It might improve the governance structure a bit, but I’m not sure it’s worth the tradeoff,” Affeldt said. “It might be a lot of political theater for not much real change.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Gov. Gavin Newsom painted a rosy picture of California’s fiscal future during his State of the State address Thursday. Flashing top-line numbers, the Democratic governor touted billions of dollars more in revenue, proposed new investments in education and pledged more toward the state’s reserves and pension debt.

But that was a one-sided story.

It’s not clear whether Newsom will forecast a budget deficit for the 2026-27 fiscal year, how big it will be and whether closing the gap would require painful spending cuts to core services like child care, food assistance and Medi-Cal, the state’s health care coverage for low-income residents, especially as federal funding diminishes.

Yet Newsom will be absent from his last annual budget proposal presentation Friday, when details of his spending plan will be unveiled, leaving his Department of Finance Director Joe Stephenshaw and Chief Deputy Director of Budgets Erika Li to field those questions.

Newsom’s forecast will likely be far sunnier than the grim outlook by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, which in November projected an $18 billion deficit despite higher-than-expected tax revenue thanks to a booming AI industry. A shortfall of that size would require long-term fixes, although state leaders had relied on Band-Aids such as accounting maneuvers, internal borrowing and withdrawals from the state’s reserves to balance the books in past years.

But according to Newsom, California will have a $248.3 billion general fund next year — $13 billion higher than his office predicted in June.

Newsom also touted Thursday that the state would have $42.3 billion more in revenue than forecast last year. But that figure is for a three-year span, state Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer told CalMatters.

The omission of the cumulative nature of the $42 billion makes Newsom’s speech “troubling,” said Sen. Roger Niello, a Roseville Republican and vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee.

“That would be an intentional misrepresentation of the fact,” he said.

Nonetheless, Newsom teased multiple new proposals with unknown price tags or timelines, such as fully funding the state’s universal transitional kindergarten program and providing universal before and after-school programs at elementary schools. He also proposed spending $1 billion to add high-need community schools and redirecting $1 billion in Proposition 1 mental health funds annually for housing and homelessness.

The governor briefly nodded to “long-term structural challenges,” proposing a $7.3 billion deposit to the reserve fund, roughly the amount the state withdrew last year, whichwould bring the rainy day fund balance to roughly $21 billion. He also proposed to spend $11.8 billion over the next few years to pay down the state’s pension debt, including $3 billion in next year’s budget.

Some Democratic lawmakers struck a cautious tone while largely blaming President Donald Trump for withholding funds from Californians in need.

“California will not be able to fill the holes that have been left by the federal government,” said newly elected Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat. “We have to go back and look (at) what is feasible.”

Sen. John Laird, a Santa Cruz Democrat and the new chair of the Senate Budget Committee, warned that the high revenue projection indicates a bubble. Laird, who was elected to the state Assembly in 2002 after the 2000 dot-com bubble burst, said he’s concerned the AI-driven boom may not last.

“I think everybody agrees that this level of revenue can’t be maintained, but how big is the bubble? That’s probably the question,” he told CalMatters.

The Legislature must start chipping away at the long-term structural deficit this year instead of punting the problem, he said.

“We’re gonna have to do a piece of it,” he said. “We can’t go into next year with a $30 or $37 billion shortfall, because the reserves amount doesn’t get anywhere near that.”

Continued fight over homelessness funding

Newsom has tussled with counties over homelessness funding for years as political pressure to resolve the state’s homeless crisis continues to mount. Newsom has blamed counties for failing to deliver results despite his $24 billion investment over the years. Only a portion of the funding goes to county agencies and there is no dedicated annual funding to fight homelessness.

On Thursday, Newsom again bashed counties for the problem while attributing a drop in unsheltered homeless people last year to his statewide programs. In the same breath, he also proposed to redirect “$1 billion in annual mental health funding to housing and treatment for people living on the streets” under Proposition 1, a voter-approved bond primarily for mental health beds and supportive housing.

“No more excuses — it’s time to bring people off the streets, out of encampments, into housing, into treatment. Counties need to do their job!” Newsom said, drawing applause from legislators.

It wasn’t immediately clear how he plans to allocate those dollars. He did not mention any funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program, the state’s main homelessness funding source.

The California State Association of Counties, which represents all 58 counties and has lobbied for an annual allocation of $1 billion in HHAP funding, was displeased.

“Playing a shell game with existing funds is no substitute for the most successful program addressing homelessness at the local level,” said association CEO Graham Knaus. “Why on Earth would the state abdicate its responsibility and allow homelessness to soar again?”

Newsom’s plan also startled county behavioral health service providers, who rely on Prop. 1 dollars for services.

“While these one-time bricks and mortar investments are promising, the $1 billion in funding for ongoing housing subsidies under Proposition 1 comes at the expense of redirected mental health treatment and prevention programs,” said Michelle Doty Cabrera, executive director of the County Behavioral Health Directors Association.

No mention of Medi-Cal

Newsom also gave next to no detail on the outlook for Medi-Cal — the state’s most expensive program with a $200 billion budget and therefore an attractive target for potential cuts. He didn’t even name the program in his speech.

The governor slammed Trump for passing a federal budget that could kick 1.8 million Californians off their insurance and raise the premiums for another 2 million. The state would have to spend at least $1.3 billion more than previously expected next year just to implement the federal law, the LAO previously estimated.

Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, said the state must “use the bully pulpit” to fight the federal government, find ways to lower costs or even revive indigent care, a form of last-resort care that has largely become obsolete due to Medi-Cal.

“Because the alternative is, people are going to be dying on the streets,” Bonta said.

Bonta said the Legislature should explore new funding sources. Some advocates are already pushing for a pair of proposed wealth tax ballot measures to fund health care and education, which Newsom opposes.

“We need to think about ways that we can increase our revenue sources … (with) openness around looking at our tax structure,” Bonta said, adding that there are ways “to make sure that everybody’s carrying their fair share.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

A year out from the Palisades Fire of January 2025, life’s not fully back to normal — and especially not without some of our favorite restaurants.

But some are open, catering in a different form, or have reached some closure.

Here’s a list of affected restaurants that are open (and would love your support), those still rebuilding and some that remain closed.

Reopened

Gladstones 

Open, outdoor seating only

17300 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades

Gladstones is still serving its staple seafood — but only outside, under the stars and very warm heaters. The restaurant isn’t taking reservations now, so you can walk in anytime between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Gladstone’s is still renovating its insides from the damage from the fire and flooding that followed.

Rosenthal Wine and Bar Patio

A patio at Rosenthal Wine's new location.

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Courtesy of Rosenthal Wine

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Open in a new location, limited hours
Kanan Dume Road and W. Newton Canyon Road, Malibu, 90265

Rosenthal Wine Bar and Patio is open at a new location on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Open since mid-August, they’ve been putting on events, comedy shows and concerts. They are also open to groups and parties to rent out any day of the week, and Mark Applebaum, Rosenthal marketing director, hopes that they can return to seven days a week in the new year.

Tramonto 

Catering and delivery services

Tramonto has turned to catering and delivery services from a kitchen in Santa Monica. They had served Italian food in Malibu for 10 years.

“We love Malibu, and it’s not like being in Malibu,” said owner Wilfredo Posadas.

But now those in the Malibu community and beyond can try their pasta from the comfort of their own home or at a catering event.

Duke’s 

Duke's signature sculpture of Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku, covered in debris and mud.

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Jimmy Chavez

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Duke's Malibu

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Open for private events
Grand reopening expected in February
21150 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu

Duke’s hopes to have its grand reopening in February. A planned partial reopening was delayed because of construction.

“You open one can of worms, and there’s three cans underneath it,” said Jimmy Chavez, Duke’s general manager who has been handling the remediation process.

However, Duke’s has been open for private events in their Ocean Room, which has gotten the community together and supported many core staff members. Regulars can expect to see nearly a brand new restaurant after a year of construction, but hopefully, some familiar faces as well.

Palisades Garden Cafe

Open
15231 La Cruz Drive, Pacific Palisades

The Garden Cafe has been open since March. While it may no longer be the easy stop after tennis lessons, it still serves its breakfast all day and wagyu burgers.

Prima Cantina

Open 

15246 W. Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades

Prima Cantina has been open since July, available for sit-down eating as well. It’s one of three restaurants open in the area right now, alongside the Garden Cafe and Chipotle across the street.

Closed

Moonshadows

The site where Moonshadows was in Malibu, seen in January 2025.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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Permanently closed

Moonshadows closed after nearly 40 years of serving Malibu. However, you can still find traces of their fine dining at sister restaurants the Sunset and Ca Del Sole, which are owned by the same people. If you yearn for the pumpkin tortellini or the spicy ahi tuna tartare, the Sunset is able to satisfy that craving.

Reel Inn and Cholada Thai

Closed

Reel Inn and Cholada Thai remain closed. The two faced licensing issues from the state, which according to ABC news, sent them a letter earlier this year terminating their lease.

Casa Nostra

Closed, may reopen 

Casa Nostra has not started rebuilding yet. They are a long way from a decision on that, said a manager at the Westlake location. They haven’t ruled it out, but for now, they are focusing on their Westlake location.