He admitted to molesting a boy. And his Tucson church protected him for years.

Editor's note: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence against children.

Philip said he started having nightmares in the fall of 2012. He had just turned 12.

The dreams were so intense Philip frequently couldn’t sleep and sought comfort from his father, they both said. One night in December of that year, Philip came out of his room to sit with his father and broke down crying.

“‘I have to tell you something,’” Philip recalled saying.

“‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong?’” his father asked.

Philip paused for a long time, struggling to get out the words, he said. Fear pulsed through him.

“‘You can always come to me. There isn’t anything you can’t tell me,’” the father said.

“‘But you don’t understand,’” Philip responded. “‘When I do tell you, you’re gonna know. You’re gonna hate me.’”

His father said it took about three and a half hours of sitting and talking for him to coax it out of Philip. It was about 2 a.m.

“‘He touched me,’” Philip finally said.

“‘Who?’”

“‘Mora touched me,’” Philip said.

Jose Mora, who was about 45 at the time, was a close family friend — a trusted member of their Tucson church, which most call the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, although its formal name is Tabernaculo Emanuel. Mora would invite church families to his home and cook them dinner. He was fun, friendly and hospitable. Former churchgoers said he was known for having a love for children — especially little boys.

Philip told his father that Mora had forced his penis into his mouth and put his mouth on Philip’s genitals that summer at Mora’s house, Philip and his father said. The father said he sensed that more happened, but he didn’t want to press his son for further details. Philip said in a recent interview that Mora also penetrated him with his fingers. Philip asked to be identified by his first name only to protect his privacy. His father also requested to have his name shielded.

Philip’s father was devastated. He was also livid.

“Why? Why my son?” he thought. “Why would you want to do something like this to children?”

Mora admitted in a September phone interview in Spanish that he touched Philip. Mora initially said he did not abuse Philip, but later in the call he said he touched Philip’s genital area and buttocks when Philip was 11 or 12. Mora denied penetrating Philip with his fingers or touching him orally. Asked how many “touching incidents” he remembered with Philip, Mora said there were “a few occasions, maybe four.”

As soon as Philip’s father found out, the first person the family called was their pastor, Isaac Noriega, Philip and his father said. The father said he spoke briefly with Noriega over the phone in those early morning hours and explained that Mora had sexually abused his son. Noriega came over the following morning and advised him, the father said.

“What I was specifically told by Isaac as advice was, ‘We don't go to the law,’” Philip’s father said.

The father said Noriega sat in his living room and told him “to not speak about it, and if it comes up, to deny it.”

Noriega denies this conversation took place.

“That’s a lie,” Noriega said in a 2024 interview. “I never told him that.”

Noriega said he knew Mora and Philip “touched each other,” but he disputes the father’s timeline. He said the father first told him about it a year ago during a marriage counseling session. Regardless, Noriega admitted that he did not report those allegations to police.

A Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team and Arizona Daily Star investigation found that Noriega has allegedly ignored or covered up child sexual abuse allegations in his church for decades, repeatedly flouting state laws that mandate reporting of such incidents. 

According to interviews with 16 former church members: 

For years, Mora was known in the Golden Dawn community for molesting young boys. Multiple parents say they reported allegations or suspicions about Mora's behavior to Noriega and high-ranking church officials called deacons, but their concerns were repeatedly met with indifference and sometimes hostility from the church. 

At least two more child sexual abuse allegations and two alleged incidents of inappropriate contact with children involving Mora and other men were brought to Noriega — and also brushed aside, according to members of the church. The alleged perpetrators were not punished. The church never called police. (See related story). 

Church members consider Noriega, 82, to be their highest authority figure, even above law enforcement. Twenty former members describe Golden Dawn as a “cult.” The strict rules and insular nature of the church encourage silence and create an environment where children are repeatedly put in harm’s way, several former congregants said.

“Nothing happens. There is no justice,” said Luis Santos, a former Golden Dawn member. “Nobody wants to bring up an investigation, so the offense is repeated over and over again because nobody stops it.”

Asked about the child sexual abuse allegations against Mora and another man, Noriega initially denied any knowledge of them in an email but then said in a phone call that he was aware of “two cases." He characterized them as “sexual harassment,” but later described situations of sexual abuse. He denied any cover-up.

‘We don’t call the police’

Under Arizona law, priests and clergy members are mandatory reporters who must make a report to law enforcement or the Department of Child Safety when they have a “reasonable belief” that a child is the victim of abuse.

Noriega said he was “not familiar” with that law. When a reporter explained it to him, he said his understanding was that “the pastor has his privilege. As far as counseling somebody, he doesn’t have to divulge it.”

There is an exception in the mandatory reporting law that says priests and religious leaders may keep a spiritual confession from a perpetrator secret. But that applies only to confessions, not parents or victims reporting abuse. Noriega said the context in which he learned about Philip's allegations against Mora was not a spiritual confession. 

"There was no confession to me," Noriega said. "I was just told about it, that's all." 

Lynne Cadigan, an attorney who has represented sexual abuse victims in the Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said when a third party, like Philip’s father, tells a pastor about abuse, the pastor is obliged to report it.

Culture of cover-ups: Tucson church has ignored child sexual abuse allegations for decades

Alleged sexual abuse of minors has been covered up in a Tucson church for decades, an investigation finds. The pastor dismissed allegations, blamed victims and screamed at police. 

“The way I read the statute is if he tells the clergy that his son has been raped, the clergy has a duty to report it, and it’s a crime if he doesn’t,” Cadigan said. “He has a duty to report — that’s the law as it stands now. Under 13-3620, that’s a felony unless he can prove otherwise.”

Noriega bristled at a reporter when asked why he wouldn’t report such serious allegations to law enforcement.

“You people don't have no story when it comes to sexual rape and all those kind of things. You have no story about it at all,” Noriega said. “You're ... trying to put me on a spot that said I didn't report it, so I'm guilty. But it's not going to work.”

Noriega said he didn’t go to the police about Mora because the “father should have reported that himself.”

Philip’s father said Noriega’s response is “almost like a slap in my face.” Philip’s father said he listened to Noriega’s advice to keep quiet because of the deep respect he had for the office of the pastor. As part of his faith, he believed the pastor was the “ultimate resource.” Whenever congregants have problems they can’t handle themselves, “the highest level to go is to your pastor,” he said.

Former congregant Andrew Loza, who left the church in the early '90s, said church leaders once reprimanded him for calling 911 when his father pulled a gun on his mother.

“We don’t call the police in Golden Dawn,” Loza said. “You don’t ever get outsiders involved. You go to Pastor Isaac.”

Mora also demonstrated this deference to the pastor. Before agreeing to an interview with reporters, he said, “Let me call, talk with my pastor. … I need to talk to him first.”

Golden Dawn is part of “The Message,” an offshoot of Pentecostalism started by William Branham, a faith healer who gained fame in the ‘50s. Followers believe Branham was a prophet.

The Message has many varying sects, most that are closer to typical fundamental Christianity and a few where authoritarian pastors take control and isolate their church communities, a Lee Enterprises and Arizona Daily Star investigation found. Those more extreme churches have pastors who preach against contact with the outside world — sometimes even with hospitals, schools and law enforcement. Branham taught that the pastor is the sole person in charge of his congregation, so church members obey their leader. 

Philip’s father said the problem was with Golden Dawn, not The Message. Branham’s teachings showed him how to live biblically, he added. He said Branham never would have condoned what happened to his son. And he credits God for helping him and his son get through this traumatic event and start healing.

Philip reported his allegations to the Tucson Police Department about a year ago. Aside from that, Lee Enterprises and the Arizona Daily Star could find no criminal record for Mora. The Tucson Police Department said in February that it hasn't had contact with anyone with Mora’s name and date of birth, but would not answer that same question in September. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it cannot say whether there is an active investigation into an individual because that could compromise the investigation.

There is no statute of limitations in Arizona for prosecuting sex crimes against children under the age of 15. Child molesters can be charged and convicted for their crimes no matter how many years have passed.

‘I was afraid'

Philip, now 24, is speaking out for the first time about what happened to him in 2012.

He said he would go over to Mora's house frequently as a child to toss a football, shoot BB guns and do other activities with Mora's three sons. 

Philip said he was reading on a bed at Mora’s house in the summer of 2012. The three boys, all younger than him, played with their toys on the ground below. 

Mora came into the bedroom and laid down next to Philip, Philip said. With his sons still in the room, Mora forced his hands down Philip’s pants and started groping him, Philip said. The three boys didn’t notice.

“'What are you doing?'” Philip said he asked.

“‘It's OK. Everything's gonna be OK,’” Philip remembers Mora telling him. “‘Just don't tell your parents. Don't say anything.’”

Philip said he didn’t know how much time passed before Mora stopped touching him.

“I was frozen still,” Philip said. “I didn’t really move.”

“I was afraid because I thought I was doing something wrong,” Philip said. “I was just afraid to say anything. I was afraid of getting in trouble. I was embarrassed. And I just — I didn't know what to do.”

Mora said he remembered two similar incidents, the first while playing on a rug in the house and the other while playing with his children on the bed. He blamed Philip — whom Mora acknowledged was 11 or 12 at the time — for instigating the sexual contact.

"He (Philip) grabbed my hand and put my hand on his butt. And then he started grabbing me," Mora said of the first incident.

“I fell into the trap,” Mora said.

Mora said he then started touching Philip on the buttocks and genitals, and they “touched each other.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Another day, Mora said they were fully clothed, and Philip grabbed him in the genital area while they were on a bed. Mora said he grabbed Philip back.

"When you talk about the way Philip initiated these contacts, are you blaming Philip, or do you think you have the responsibility?" a reporter asked Mora.

"No, I am not accusing anyone," Mora said. "He was a child. I was an adult. I had to know better. So, we are both responsible."

Mora’s alleged defense is no defense at all. It is not legally possible for a child under 15 to consent to physical sexual contact by an adult; nor is it a defense to allege the child initiated the contact. Arizona statute defines molestation of a child as “intentionally or knowingly engaging in or causing a person to engage in sexual contact … with a child under fifteen years of age.”

Philip said he hoped the groping incident in the bedroom would be the last of it. But Mora sexually abused him on two more occasions that summer, Philip said.

Philip went over to Mora’s house again, this time to go swimming in his pool. As Philip showered in the bathroom afterward, Mora came into the shower naked, Philip said. Philip tried to push him away, but Philip said Mora kept touching and kissing him. That’s when Mora forced his penis into Philip’s mouth and put his mouth on Philip’s penis, Philip said. Mora then used his fingers to penetrate Philip, Philip said.

On a different day that summer, Mora undressed and forced himself into the shower with Philip again, but this time, Mora brought his three sons with him, Philip said. Mora didn’t make them do anything. “They were just there,” Philip said, while Mora groped and kissed him.

Mora said he only remembered one of the shower incidents. Mora said he was naked, taking a bath with his children when Philip called him into another bathroom. Mora said he entered the bathroom, still naked, and Philip started touching him. Mora said he hugged and kissed Philip in the shower.

Mora denied the oral sexual contact and said he never penetrated Philip.

Philip said that’s a lie.

“I know what did and didn’t happen, and if him and the pastor wanna lie or cover up that’s on them,” Philip said of Mora. “I know the truth.”

Asked whether anything similar to these incidents had happened before, Mora said family members sexually abused him when he was about 10 in Mexico.

Mora said he feels remorseful about his actions. He said he loves Philip and his family and didn’t want to speak about them.

"More than anything, it's embarrassing," Mora said. "I have three children, and I know that I did things that were wrong. But for me I feel like I was stupid.

"I'd rather have Philip come and shoot me than have him talking about me."

Mora declined to answer when a reporter asked whether he has ever penetrated other children with his fingers or penis.

"I don't know what to answer there," Mora said. "I don't know if you're setting a trap for me." 

‘Why are you touching me?’

Signs of Mora’s behavior surfaced many years before he touched Philip.

Emmanuel Martinez said Mora touched him inappropriately multiple times during the roughly year he sat next to Mora when he was 12 or 13 in the early 2000s. Golden Dawn has assigned seating for the congregation, and children sit away from their parents once they reach the “age of accountability” at 12 and become culpable for their sins.

When Martinez fell asleep or wasn’t paying attention, Mora would squeeze his leg and massage his thighs, Martinez said. 

“Joseph Mora would put his hands on my legs, and I was like dude, why are you touching me?” Martinez said. “I hit his hand off my legs, so he never did anything (more). I think he tried, but he knew I was not having it. And he stopped.”

Mora said he sat next to a boy in the pews, but he doesn’t remember touching the boy’s leg.

Manuel David Calvo, 34, said Mora was “very touchy” with him when he was a child. From about ages 13 to 15, Calvo would help Mora with construction work during the summer. Mora would bring him to the store and buy him trinkets.

Calvo said Mora gave him lots of hugs and frequently kissed him on the cheek when they spent time together, but it never went further than that.

"It was a kiss like that of a father and son," Mora said. "He loved me like a father."

Mora also admitted that he bought long underwear for one boy, a younger brother of Luis Santos. Mora said that’s what the boy wanted as a gift, which he explained to the father.

Santos, 39, said his brother came home after spending time with Mora in the late ‘90s wearing a different pair of underwear, which distressed his parents. Santos said his father spoke with Pastor Noriega about the incident.

“The church hid it,” Santos said.

Santos’ father, Jose Santos, said in Spanish that he did not have information to share. Santos' brother did not respond to a request for comment.

Sometime after, Santos said he and his brothers were no longer allowed to spend time with Mora.

‘Please forgive’

Philip’s father said Noriega told him not only to deny the abuse of his son but also to speak with Mora to resolve the conflict.

Philip’s father and grandfather went to Mora’s house about a week later. The father said he’s not sure why he followed Noriega’s advice. “I look back, and I just, I scratch my head,” the father said. “Like, what was I thinking?”

“It's not wise to have a father of a child that was just victimized actually go and talk with this individual, Mora,” the father said.

The father said Mora admitted to forced oral and genital contact with Philip in the bathroom.

“‘I'm sorry, please forgive me. Pray for me. I have a problem,’” the father remembered Mora saying.

Mora confirmed this conversation took place, but he denied confessing to the oral sexual contact.

Mora said Philip's father "accused me first" to Noriega. Then, Mora said he spoke with Noriega about the accusations, and Noriega "told me to be careful." Noriega also advised Mora to "'talk to the dad, make things right,'" Mora recalled. 

"I talked to the dad," Mora said. "He tells me, 'I forgive you.' Everything's fine. No problem."

In a September phone interview, Noriega described the allegations against Mora this way:

“This was (Mora’s) story with this father. He said ‘the boy’ — and the boy admitted it — ‘the boy just started touching me.’ He says, ‘So I touched him back,’” Noriega said. “He said, ‘I never penetrated him. I never had nothing to do with his mouth or his back or anything. We just touched each other.’ That's what he told. … And the father was okay with it, and then later they start bringing up things.”

Mora said he shared that information with the pastor "in confidence."

Noriega clarified in a follow-up email that he found out about Philip’s allegations against Mora during a marriage counseling session with Philip’s father and mother about a year ago.

“I don’t recall them ever coming to me with this situation prior to these confessions,” Noriega wrote of Philip’s parents.

A few weeks after Mora and the father’s meeting, Mora wrote a public letter to the church asking for forgiveness, but it wasn’t clear for what, the father and two other former congregants said. Noriega read the letter from the pulpit and afterward, Mora was brought back “into the fold,” meaning he was forgiven and no longer ostracized, they said. Mora confirmed that he wrote this letter.

Noriega declined to specify the nature of Mora’s sin: “When any person seeks forgiveness in the form of a letter, the details, if any, of that sin are never publicly shared.” Noriega said he disciplined Mora but would not say how.

The father said this practice of reading a vague letter of repentance before the church happens whenever someone is caught in a sin, even one as simple as watching TV, which is against the rules in Golden Dawn.

“We’re going to compare television to a predator who is active in the congregation and not a word is said to the congregation as a warning,” the father said. “How about just telling the individual you’re not welcome here anymore? But that never happened.”

Instead, Mora was once again permitted to take communion, a sacred ritual reserved for those who are living pure and clean lives, the father said. Congregants drink wine, eat bread and wash their feet in honor of Jesus.

The father said he watched as Mora washed the feet of another 12-year-old boy mere weeks after he confessed to abusing Philip. Noriega and the deacons did “nothing,” the father said.

Ignored

A mother who used to attend Golden Dawn said she was “very upset” that church leaders never informed parents or asked Mora to leave the congregation. The mother asked to have her identity shielded because she doesn’t want to hurt family members still in the church.

“It put our kids in danger,” she said.

Mora once invited her family over for dinner and insisted that she leave her young son, about 5 years old at the time, at his house overnight, she said. She decided against it. Later, she found out from Philip’s father that he had spoken with Mora the prior week about the abuse allegations, she said.

“(Mora) had the gall to actually ask us to leave our child when he knew he was just confronted a week ago,” the mother said.

Several years later in about 2019, the mother said she saw Mora pick up two young boys from the church school who weren’t his sons. She said she reported it to a church deacon, who informed Noriega. They ignored it, she said. The deacon told her “that I was the one with the problem," she said.

Mora is still a part of the church.

Philip said he couldn’t take seeing Mora there every week. He left Golden Dawn in the summer of 2023. His father followed a few months later.

“Over the course of that last couple of years or so I realized: Why didn't the church do anything? Why was nothing ever done?” Philip said. “Why haven’t I said anything?”

As of early November, Philip was still waiting to hear back from the Tucson Police Department about the statement he made to them last year. He hopes speaking publicly now will help spur progress.

“It felt like a weight off my shoulders — finally — to talk about it,” he said.

Philip’s father said he regrets staying silent for so long.

“How many other people has this Jose Mora abused, and we're not aware of because they're scared to come forward?” the father said. “Maybe by coming out, it’ll give them some strength.”

About this series

Lee Enterprises investigative team and the Arizona Daily Star interviewed more than 50 former and current Message followers, experts and religious leaders for “Twisted Message.” The series examines the lack of accountability in a Christian religious sect called “The Message.” Some groups that claim to follow the faith have become controlling or destructive, including a Tucson church accused of being a “cult,” an Arizona trailer park commune that physically and sexually abused children in the 1960s and churches across the U.S. that allegedly treat women as “second-class citizens.” The year-long investigation is the first news-media account of The Message and its global influence.