Court Releases Ignite Life Center Defendant’s Pretrial Compliance Form
Updated July 17 | The court denied Cruz's motion and he will continue wearing a GPS monitor.
Updated July 9 | Cruz has made a motion to modify his pretrial release to "remove the condition of GPS monitoring."
Editor’s Notes | Besides the release of Noel Cruz’s pretrial compliance form, most of the information in this article has been previously reported on GnvInfo.
Upon yesterday’s release of his pretrial compliance form, alleged statutory rapist Noel Cruz, 22, appears to be adhering to all court orders.
The compliance form states Cruz was released under GPS supervision on February 20, one day after he was arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious behavior for allegedly taking advantage of and committing statutory rape against a 15-year-old girl when he was 20.
The form additionally states that no reports indicate Cruz has made direct or indirect contact with the victim, made unsupervised contact with minors, or possessed weapons or firearms.
Cruz’s father, Jose Cruz, was the associate pastor of the local Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church Ignite Life Center (ILC) when allegations of sexual abuse committed by his son were reported to him. Jose Cruz did not report the matter to authorities, as he and other ILC administrators are required to as mandated reporters.
A GPD Supplemental Report shows Jose Cruz, along with standing ILC head pastor Mark Vega, wanted to handle reported sexual abuses committed by their sons internally.
According to the supplemental report, in November 2022, the victim told her parents about the sexual misconduct, and her parents arranged a meeting with pastors Vega and Jose Cruz. The victim's father spoke over the phone, and the three of them planned a meeting with themselves, the victim, Vega’s son Christian Vargas, and Noel Cruz.
Jose Cruz and Vega reportedly told the father over the phone, “We’re gonna scare the shit out of these guys and let them know what will happen if the law gets involved.”
Jose Cruz was reportedly let-go or willingly left shortly after his son was arrested.
Vargas is not being charged for these incidents due to his proximity in age to the victim; however, he is being charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious behavior for allegedly raping a 12- to 13-year-old girl when he was 16 as well as sexually coercing a 14-year-old girl when he was 17–18.
Vargas was also released a day after he was arrested and has to follow the same court orders as Noel Cruz.
In April, under the condition that he adhered to court orders, Vargas was legally permitted to travel to White Plains, New York.
Vargas’ order allowing him to travel stated he was “permitted to travel with his parents” from April 1 through April 10. Vargas’ father, Vega, made an appearance at the end of ILC’s sermon on April 7. He said, “I’m not supposed to be here. My wife is not supposed to be here.” He then said, with air quotes, “We are technically on vacation.”
The first anonymous whistleblower from ILC to speak publicly on GnvInfo said that Noel and Jose Cruz’s names have not been mentioned much around the church recently and that “they have been laying low since they left Ignite.” This is unlike Vargas, who has been attending ILC with his father while on pretrial release.
Shortly before the GPD Supplemental Report was released publicly, the aforementioned ILC whistleblower made a statement calling out Mark Vega and Jose Cruz for the coverup.
The only other arrestee from ILC thus far is convicted sexual abuser Gabriel Hemenez, who was arrested approximately a year ago after he told Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers he sexually abused three children and one adult.
When Hemenez was arrested, GPD said he may receive more charges, however, one of his charges was dropped, and he was given a plea deal by State Attorney Brian Kramer’s office and sentenced to five years in prison.
ILC survivors who were victims to Hemenez's sexual abuse are currently suing the Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God for negligence and vicarious liability along with ILC for negligence, vicarious liability, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, accusing ILC of covering up Hemenez's abuses.
In related news, yesterday, two other anonymous ILC informants called out Assemblies of God CEO Doug Clay amid the multiple sexual abuse coverups coming out from the church’s administrators.
