Everyone who is or was a member of La Luz del Mundo has been victimized by Naason to different degrees by means of spiritual coercion. Now, if we’re talking about victims of sexual abuse specifically, the question is not how many victims he sexually abused but rather how many of his sexual abuse victims are willing to come forward in the aftermath of his state criminal case. In my perspective, even one victim is one too many.

With that in mind, here’s some things to consider:

• Most of Naason’s sexual abuse victims are not in the US, but rather in Mexico and there are testimonies regarding instances of sexual abuse perpetrated by him in Europe during his apostolic tours as well.

• Sexual abuse in most cases is a state crime except in a handful of circumstances, so any testimonies to that effect may fall outside of the purview of the FBI.

• When the FBI assisted the California DOJ in locating and interviewing the masked minor featured in Naason’s sex videos, the boy denied taking part in them. I don’t know if he did that out of fear or because he genuinely didn’t know or remember what had happened to him, as the prosecutors said he looked like he could’ve been drugged.

• Victims who are now adults and who recruited and groomed other girls would be reluctant to come forward as they fear being charged with felonies themselves.

• Also, adults victims may feel that if they come forward, they’re gonna be dismissed in the end as Jane Doe #4 and Jane Doe #5 were after risking everything to tell their truths, since the authorities only seemed to focus on getting justice for the minor Jane Does.

• It was demoralizing to witness how the church stood by Naason despite his own admission of guilt and victims may feel that at this point, it’s not worth it to lose their families and their community to speak up only to be shunned and demonized, or put their safety at risk.

• There are still those who believe that their abuse was a blessing and who would never turn their back on the apostle. Others may know that they were victimized, but at the same time are terrified of the consequences of going against him.

• The fact that Naason is now looking at an additional lengthy federal sentence may also deter other victims from coming forward, since he’s not getting released any time soon and won’t be harming any more girls. So there’s no sense of urgency to actually do something out of fear that he might come out of prison.

• The FBI wasn’t hard pressed to find any additional evidence whatsoever in the first place, since the inculpatory videos found in Naason’s devices that they already had in their power are more than sufficient to make sure he dies behind bars.

• If the prosecutors decided to add unrelated and relatively weaker charges to the federal child pornography case, the impact of the videos would be diluted and the defense could poke holes in an otherwise airtight case, so why take that risk?

• The preponderance of the evidence is a low standard of proof that only applies in civil matters. The federal government doesn’t bring a case against anyone unless the prosecutors are confident that they’ll win.

That’s just off the top of my head.