Judge proposes to try an evangelical teacher for sexually assaulting three minors under 16 years old

The judge of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Alcorcón proposes to try Juan Francisco G. I, 31 years old, for a crime of sexual assault of minors under 16 years of age, according to the order to which this newspaper has had access. “From the investigative proceedings carried out in this case, it is presumed and indicatively that Juan Francisco GI, a teacher dedicated to teaching the Word of God to the children of the Fuente de Vida Evangelical Church, in Móstoles, began to have a friendly and close relationship with some of the children who attended it with their relatives, with whom he began to have details such as gifts or telephone conversations, even staying alone with them in different places (either in the child's own house, in his own house, or in the Church) and even touching their parts ”. The events, reported by the parents of the minors , would have occurred between 2022 and September 2023. There are three alleged victims. According to the court order, he “kissed one of them and touched her genitals and performed fellatio several times”; he “touched another on her genitals” and “kissed the third on the cheek and neck.” The age difference between the suspect and the alleged victims is between 13 and 14 years.

Juan Francisco met the minors at the Evangelical Church Fuente de Vida in Móstoles, where he gave introductory Bible classes to children. According to what FEREDE (Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain) clarified to this newspaper when the investigation began, the alleged perpetrator of the events was not “a person with a hierarchy in the organisation chart”, nor “was he a religious person or held positions of responsibility or representation of this church”, but rather “he collaborated with catechism and took advantage of the situation to come into contact with the children”. In addition, FEREDE insisted, “the events were not committed in the place of worship”. According to a source familiar with the events, however, “it was not a sporadic collaboration” since the accused “led one of the youth groups and had to answer to his superiors”.

He was arrested in October 2023 when the parents of one of the minors reported him and he refused to testify. He is free with a restraining order and communication with the three minors he allegedly abused and who testified last year. Before the police report, there was an initial internal investigation that was resolved by prohibiting the accused from approaching the minor: in that case, an internal investigation was not opened as occurred after the police report.

According to the complaint filed by the victims in October 2023 and to which this newspaper has had access, there are reports of fellatio, touching, penetration attempts and harassment through Instagram accounts. Hence, Juan Francisco G. I's mobile phone was tapped to track possible conversations with minors in his different profiles. In one of these accounts, according to the complaint, he would have written to one of the children who was visiting Spain (he is a foreigner). “Is that you? Do you have a girlfriend? Have you kissed yet? Take a photo, you look really pretty... You are 13 years old like me. Do you have photos without a shirt? Do you have muscles?” he wrote to one of the victims, according to the complaint. The next day, he returned to the charge. “I have the play5 . Do you meet your girlfriend to kiss? You can see from your lips that you must kiss well... I just want to try different things.” When the alleged victim replies that she doesn't like boys, the accused responds: "I'll give you 50 euros if you give me a kiss." The mother, according to the complaint, is the one who answers, pretending to be her son. "Not for 50, not for 100." It is at that moment that, from a fake account, Juan Francisco sends a photo of a boy's back. According to the complaint, they recognize him by "his height, hairstyle and ears."

Before these conversations, Juan Francisco allegedly touched his biceps — “you’re so strong” — and his belt buckle. On a subway ride back from a game of bowling in a shopping center after a service, the accused also touched his leg, thigh, hair and neck. The boy’s mother said in the complaint that she regularly attended the Fuente de Vida Church between 2017 and 2019 and that she left for work reasons afterwards. She was therefore surprised to receive a Facebook message from Juan Francisco G. I in September 2023, since she had not heard from him for 4 years. “Hello, how are you? I think your son has come. I’ll see if you can introduce him to me. I have a special service on Saturday.” At that service, the accused met the alleged third victim. This mother had been alerted by the mother of the second victim, according to the complaint. She told him what he had done with another minor: “touching him in the genital area, kissing him on the mouth while giving him gifts.” On more than one occasion, according to the complaint, the two mothers spoke about Fran’s “ways of acting.”

It was precisely during one of these conversations that the complainant's son told her: "Mom, Fran is gay. He touched me, he sucked my penis." He also tried to penetrate him, according to the complaint. It is reported that the boy was opposed, but that the accused was stronger and made him desist. At least five fellatio incidents are reported, several of them at the boy's home since the accused was a friend of the family. According to the complaint, he took advantage of the fact that the mother was going to put her little daughter to bed, to abuse the minor by covering himself with a blanket in the living room. The abuse was also committed at Juan Francisco GI's home.

UFAM appeared at the Church when the complaint was made, in October 2023, and at that time Juan Francisco requested a transfer to another evangelical church in Móstoles. As FEREDE clarified to this newspaper at the time, the person under investigation has not been acting as a leader in that other church. “He went there but as an assistant, not as a member, because in that case the process [to admit him] would be longer. In the Evangelical Churches you are received right away without asking anything and even more so in his case, which, they tell us, is as an assistant.”

The Fuente de Vida Church in Móstoles is on a small street with no more than 30 numbers and the entrance is hidden on the back side. If it weren't for the sign with the schedule of functions placed on the corner of the building, it would be impossible to realize that there is a place of worship there.