Philippine mega-church founder with ties to Hawaii charged in massive sex trafficking case
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Federal investigators have charged the flamboyant founder of a Philippines-based mega-church in connection with a massive sex trafficking operation, alleging he coerced girls and young women to have sex with him under threats of “eternal damnation.”
The leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, is believed to be in the Philippines. But he has strong ties to Hawaii, and authorities said he maintains a residence in Kapolei.
Quiboloy, who has referred to himself as the “appointed son of God,” is the leader of a church with a worldwide reach. He has claimed to have more than 6 million members in more than 200 countries.
In a superseding indictment unsealed Friday, federal authorities expanded the scope of previous charges by adding six new defendants, including Quiboloy. The 71-year-old lives a compound in the Philippines and so remains at large, officials said, but also has homes in Hawaii, California and Nevada.
Also charged in the superseding indictment was Felina Salinas, 50, of Kapolei.
Federal authorities said she was responsible for collecting and securing church workers in Hawaii as well as directing solicited funds to church officials in the Philippines. She was arrested Thursday.
The superseding indictment charges Quiboloy, Salinas and Teresita Tolibas Dandan ― identified as the “international administrator” for the mega-church ― with participating in a massive conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force or fraud as well as in the sex trafficking of children.
Authorities said the three recruited women and girls, who ranged in age from 12 to 25, to work as personal assistants (or “pastorals”) to Quiboloy.
The victims prepared Quiboloy’s meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages and were required to have sex with Quiboloy in what the pastorals called “night duty,” authorities allege.
The indictment specifically mentions five female victims, three of whom were minors.
“Defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators coerced pastorals into performing ‘night duty’ ― that is, sex ― with defendant Quiboloy under the threat of physical and verbal abuse and eternal damnation by defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators,” the indictment alleges.
“Defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators told pastorals that performing ‘night duty’ was ‘God’s will’ and a privilege, as well as a necessary demonstration of the pastoral’s commitment to give her body to defendant Quiboloy as ‘the appointed son of God.’”
The indictment says the scheme started no later than 2002 and continued through at least 2018.
Authorities said victims who were “obedient” were rewarded with luxurious hotel rooms, trips to tourist spots and yearly cash payments.
Those who expressed hesitation were told they had “the devil in them and risked eternal damnation.”
The indictment said Quiboloy would also threaten and physically abuse victims who attempted to leave KOJC or who talked to other men. Victims who managed to escape KOJC suffered retaliation in the form of threats, harassment and allegations of criminal misconduct, the indictment said.
Federal prosecutors said “Quiboloy would give sermons, broadcasted to KOJC members around the world, in which he would allege that victims who escaped had engaged in criminal conduct and sexually promiscuous activity, and therefore faced eternal damnation.”
The superseding indictment also outlines KOJC’s alleged soliciting operations nationwide, which authorities said gave rise to additional criminal conduct ― from forced labor to labor trafficking, document servitude, marriage fraud and money laundering.
https://www.scribd.com/document/540752222/Kingdom-of-Jesus-Christ-Indictment
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/11/18/philippines-mega-church-founder-with-ties-hawaii-charged-massive-sex-trafficking-case/