A California pastor\u00a0and his wife were sentenced to prison time earlier this month after pleading guilty to a charge related to what federal prosecutors described as a church labor trafficking scheme that victimized the homeless.
\nVictor Gonzalez, the head pastor of California-based Imperial Valley Ministries (IVM), was sentenced to six months in prison and another six months of house confinement after pleading guilty in a San Diego federal court to conspiracy to commit benefits fraud, according to\u00a0the San Diego Union-Tribune.
\nHis wife, Susan Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty to the same charge, received a time-served sentence.
\nGonzalez\u00a0and his wife were among a dozen church leaders who\u00a0were charged in 2019\u00a0with forced labor,\u00a0conspiracy, document servitude\u00a0and\u00a0benefits\u00a0fraud. He\u00a0and the others were arrested Sept. 10, 2019, in El Centro, California, San Diego, California, and Brownsville, Texas.
\nThe additional charges against them, for which they faced potentially 20 years in prison, were dropped. All other defendants have also pleaded guilty, with most receiving time-served sentences.
\nLeaders were accused of\u00a0scamming victims into\u00a0rehabilitation\u00a0homes,\u00a0forcing them to surrender their\u00a0welfare\u00a0benefits\u00a0and later keeping them\u00a0against their will\u00a0by\u00a0confiscating identification cards, driver\u2019s licenses, passports and immigration papers,\u00a0according to the U.S. Justice Department.
\nThey subjected\u00a0mostly homeless people\u00a0to\u00a0forced labor by making them panhandle up to nine hours a day, six days per week for the benefit of IVM, which planted approximately 30 affiliate churches throughout the U.S. and Mexico, according to federal prosecutors. IVM\u00a0also owned three group homes in the El Centro area, one in Calexico and another in Chula Vista.
\nThe victims were not allowed to communicate with their families for 30 days after joining, and they were also prohibited from finding work beside\u00a0panhandling for the church, according to the plea agreement. Those who did not meet specific quotas or refused to beg were at risk of being excommunicated.
\nThe plea agreement also says the defendants\u00a0illegally seized\u00a0and distributed benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
\nIVM leaders\u00a0were also accused of using different abusive methods to force the participants to continue begging for their financial gain, such as threatening to take away their children if they left, not providing transportation home, or convincing them that their loved ones had rejected them and that “only God” loved them.<\/p>\n