Megachurch leader Naasón Joaquín García was sentenced last week to nearly 17 years in state prison after pleading guilty to child sexual abuse, putting an end to a case that in its early days made headlines for the astonishingly high $50 million bail amount set by the court.
It may have been a California record in 2019. In 2017, bail was set at $35 million in San Mateo County for murder suspect Tiffany Li. The district attorney wanted the bar set even higher, because he was afraid Li might be able to post her bail and go free pending trial. And, in fact, she did.
When Garcia was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in 2019, Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general at the time, had the same worry. He wanted to be sure the leader of Mexico-based La Luz del Mundo church couldn’t raise enough from his many devoted followers to to post bail.
