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A US judge has set a new date for the Los Angeles, California trial of Kingdom of Jesus Christ church founder Apollo Quiboloy and several others, giving prosecutors and the defendants more time to prepare for the case.
In an order signed by US district judge Terry Hatter Jr., the court moved the start of the trial from March 19, 2024 to November 5, 2024, after US prosecutors and defendants Felina Salinas, Gaia Cabactulan, Marissa Duenas, Amanda Estopare and Bettina Padilla Roces filed a stipulation regarding request for continuance and findings of excludable time periods pursuant to the Speedy Trial Act.
The court said failure to grant the continuance “would be likely to make a continuation of the proceeding impossible or result in a miscarriage of justice.”
“The case is so unusual and so complex, due to the nature of the prosecution and the number of defendants, that is is unreasonable to expect preparation for pretrial proceedings or for the trial itself within the time limits established by the Speedy Trial Act,” the court noted.
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It added: “Failure to grant the continuance would deny all counsel for the defendants the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence; and (v) the time period of March 19, 2024 to November 5, 2024 constitutes a reasonable period of delay.”
The court ordered the defendants to appear in Courtroom 9B of the Federal Courthouse, 350 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, on Nov. 5, 2024 at 10 a.m.
A 74-page indictment earlier charged Quiboloy, founder of a church called Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name (KOJC) and other church officials, including 2 US-based church administrators, with running a sex-trafficking operation that threatened victims as young as 12 with "eternal damnation" and physical abuse.
The indictment alleges that Quiboloy and 2 other defendants recruited females aged 12 to 25 as personal assistants, or "pastorals."
It said they were required to prepare Quiboloy’s meals, clean his residences, give him massages and have sex with him during what they called "night duty."
He stayed in large residences that he controlled, including residences in Calabasas, California; Las Vegas, Nevada: and Kapolei, Hawaii, according to the indictment.
One resource person tapped by Hontiveros is Minnesota-based Arlene Caminong Stone, a former member of Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church, and vocal critic of the church.
Stone has spent the past few years reaching out to senators, urging them to investigate Quiboloy.
"It is really hard to wait. The hardest thing here is waiting to complete the process. At the same time, it is also frustrating because there’s a lot of victims. Their lives have been paused because of the situation," she told ABS-CBN News.
"In order for us to really find the justice that we are looking for we have to go through different avenues, that’s why I’m sending different emails to the Senate or even Congress but nobody really hear me.
Stone said Hontiveros' call for a Senate probe on Quiboloy was like a breath of fresh air for ex-KOJC members "because we’ve been waiting forever so hopefully by early next year there will be a big chance he will actually face us."
Stone has been in touch with other alleged victims, including the ones reportedly rescued from California in early 2020.
She said many have been waiting to testify against the church, whether in the Philippines or in the US where Quiboloy faces sexual abuse and labor trafficking allegations.
Despite being wanted by the FBI, no extradition has been announced for Quiboloy, or any of his other co-defendants.
The FBI's wanted poster for religious leader Apollo Quiboloy, who was indicted for sex trafficking last year. February 5, 2022. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Stone said she is willing to serve as a witness in either case.
"There are more and more victims coming out from their shell and they are willing to give their stories. They are willing to testify for the victims who are here in the US. They are very happy at least some of them, they have started their lives but some of the victims who are still in the Philippines or some other part of the work but in the Philippines they are still scared. But because of the situation we can see it is not just us who are fighting against him it’s the whole world. It’s the government so that gives us the confidence that it’s ok for them to come out," she said.
Quiboloy’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio has dismissed Hontiveros’ claims as recycled, adding that the Philippine Senate is not an investigative agency.
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