VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The FBI raided a Philippines-based church in Los Angeles to arrest leaders of an alleged immigration fraud scheme that resulted in sham marriages in California and Virginia.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that three leaders of the local branch of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) were arrested in morning raids.
Guia Cabactulan, 59, Marissa Duenas, 41, and Amanda Estopare, 48, were arrested by agents in California and Virginia following raids of KOJC’s offices in Van Nuys, Glendale, and Los Angeles.
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ has a church branch in Virginia Beach.
Authorities say the church flew members from the Philippines to California under false pretenses, then confiscated their passports. According to the Department of Justice, victims were forced to sleep in cars and forced to beg for donations to the church's charity.
Attorney Radlyn Mendoza from the Gardner and Mendoza law firm said alleged trafficking is horrible.
"When you take those documents away, how can you even travel, how can you go to the authorities? They have no identity. To be victimized and to not even be doing the opportunity they thought they were coming to, that's devastating," said Mendoza.
Court papers say the best fundraisers were then forced into sham marriages to keep them here. Calls to the church for comment were not answered.
"That's pretty severe, you're taking a person on a non-immigrant visa and putting them into a fake marriage, and going through the whole process with our local immigration office," said Mendoza.
Mendoza said that her law firm will offer free consultations for the victims during the investigation.
"We may be able to help with a visa in order for that person, or those people to be able to stay in the United States lawfully while they are assisting authorities in this case," said Mendoza.
A spokesman for church leader Apollo Quiboloy denied the allegations, saying former members who had been disciplined for wrongdoing retaliated by fabricating information they fed to the FBI.
The church claims 6 million members and backed the 2016 candidacy of Phillippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Quiboloy's close friend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.