An elderly Tucson pastor is accused of failing to report allegations that a boy and a girl in his church were sexually abused by congregants. His attorney claims dementia makes him incompetent for trial.
Emily Hamer
Public Service Journalism reporter
A boy said he was molested repeatedly in the pews of his Tucson church, the Golden Dawn Tabernacle. The church's "cultish rules" kept him silent — until now.
A Star investigation found that Isaac Noriega, pastor of Tucson's Golden Dawn Tabernacle, covered-up alleged child-sex abuse for decades. He now faces criminal charges.
Jonathan Santos, 23, said a member of his former Tucson church molested him when he was about 8 years old. He's coming forward now to support another victim of the alleged "pedophile."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Jose Mora, 57, before he was arrested on suspicion of five counts of child molestation.
For Star subscribers: Victims say a Tucson church, Golden Dawn, protected alleged child molesters for years. Tucson police are now "looking into the possibility of additional victims" — and another has come forward.
One former member of the sect said he felt “inferior” as a Black teenager because of his church’s racist beliefs on mixed race relationships.
Dancing for the first time. Celebrating holidays. Seeing the ocean. For people in one strict Tucson church, leaving has meant freedom to do 'wrong' things that others find normal.
Women were told never to cut their hair, one of the many rules controlling them. Women who disobeyed "weren't worth a good, clean bullet," the sect's founder taught.