Beware, This Church Tricks Homeless People, Turns Them To Beggars

Details have emerged how a church had been attracting the homeless, use them to beg money which they later collect, and also punish those who object.

Already, the police has moved in to arrest the church’s leaders which operates 30 affiliate groups.

A report from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) named the church as the Imperial Valley Ministries (IVM), allegedly operating about 30 affiliate church groups in the US and Mexico.

The California based-church is accused of imprisoning homeless people, forcing them to beg all day and taking the money.

The report said dozens of victims had their papers taken, their welfare benefits stolen and were punished if they spoke of “things of the world”, officials say.

The police made arrests on Tuesday, while the former pastor, Victor Gonzalez, had been detained in San Diego.

Eleven others were held in El Centro, California, and Brownsville, Texas facing charges of conspiracy, forced labour, document servitude and benefits fraud.

Victims were with the promise of food and shelter, the report said adding that the church would  camouflage as  “missionaries to drug addicts”, promising them food and shelter and opportunities to get back on their feet at “no cost”,.

“The indictment alleges an appalling abuse of power by church officials who preyed on vulnerable homeless people with promises of a warm bed and meals,” the lead prosecutor, US Attorney Robert Brewer, said at a news conference after the arrests.

“These victims were held captive, stripped of their humble financial means, their identification, their freedom and their dignity.”

A statement from the prosecutor added that “windows were nailed shut at some group home locations, leading a desperate 17-year-old victim to break a window, escape, and run to a neighbouring property to call police”.

Victims were allegedly locked in group homes, and forced to beg for nine hours a day, six days a week.

According to prosecutors, victims were told “the only thing to be read is the holy bible” and “if any of the rules are broken there will be discipline”.

Punishments included the withholding of food, and if they asked to leave they were told their children would be taken away, it is alleged.

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Church leaders refused to allow a diabetic victim with low blood sugar to obtain medicine, said officials. She was able to escape.

They were also banned from using the telephone, and told to avoid their family because “only God” loved them now, said officials.

If they did manage to leave, church leaders continued to withhold their money, along with important documents such as immigration paperwork and food benefit cards.

In a related development last May, the state attorney general’s office in the state of California, had said it would  review how the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles handled sexual abuse allegations over the last two decades

This was sequel to pressures from advocates of suspected victims.

The matter, according to the Los Angeles Time sent shock waves through the religious institution.

The newpaper said a letter, Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra to Archbishop Jose H. Gomez requests that church officials preserve an array of documents related to clergy abuse allegations.

“The California Department of Justice is conducting a review of your archdiocese’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations involving children, including whether your archdiocese has adequately reported allegations of sexual misconduct, as required under California’s Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act,” Becerra stated in the letter, reviewed by The Times.

The investigation marked a major escalation in the widespread abuse scandal, which has resulted in massive settlements for victims and criminal charges against individual priests statewide but has stopped short of targeting the larger institution.

“The people I represent and survivors in general are just thrilled,” Sacramento attorney Joseph George said. “I love the idea that law enforcement would come in with warrants and subpoena power and really get things done.”

The newspaper quoted George as saying that he had worked with abuse survivors since late last year to file more than 100 reports of abuse involving clergy in Los Angeles, Oakland, Santa Rosa, Fresno, San Diego and Monterey with the attorney general’s office.

“The hope is that the hierarchy will be held accountable and the conduct will be conveyed to the public,” he said. “They keep talking about apologies and evil and mistakes and sins, but what we’re really talking about are crimes that were made by more than just bad apples.”