Ignite Life Center Civil Lawsuits Settled
On March 12, 2024, three Ignite Life Center (ILC) survivors launched civil lawsuits against ILC and the Florida Multicultural District (FMD) of the Assemblies of God (AG).
All three plaintiffs sued ILC and FMD for negligence and vicarious liability. One plaintiff additionally sued ILC for fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The suits alleged that ILC did not report the sexual abuses that volunteer/ISM student Gabriel Hemenez committed against them and actively worked to handle it internally.
ILC denied the allegations.
ILC “denied the existence of an agency with third-party criminal actor and alleged perpetrator Gabriel Hemenez.” Hemenez was working within the capacity of ILC when he committed sexual abuse.
Hemenez is on the front page of the Ignite School of Ministry's website despite his arrest in July, 2023 and conviction in March, 2024.
By May, several dismissal motions had been filed by ILC and FMD.
By June, the plaintiffs had submitted proposals for a settlement agreement to ILC and FMD.
In August, the plaintiffs requested that ILC “admit that [they] did not report that Gabriel Hemenez was the subject of sexual abuse suspicions, rumors, reports, and/or complaints to law enforcement prior to February 2023.”
ILC admitted it.
The Plaintiffs asked ILC to admit that Gabriel Hemenez sexually abused another church member in 2019. ILC did not admit or deny the incident occurred.
The plaintiffs submitted requests for several documents relating to the Hemenez cases and ILC’s organizational structure.
The plaintiffs asked for all rules provided to ILC volunteers from 2016-2023. ILC declined the request and cited the “Ignite Life Center PSA Policies and Procedures Manual.”
ILC claimed Hemenez was never employed with ILC when the Plaintiffs asked for his job application.
A few days after Hemenez was arrested in July 2023, the ILC pastor/public relations manager Nicole Gomez told GnvInfo that Hemenez was a volunteer before becoming an employee, then a volunteer again. Gomez did not disclose that Hemenez was an ISM student. However, in the civil lawsuits, ILC admitted that Hemenez was an ISM student and denied he was an employee.
ILC rejected the majority of the documentation requests; however, they did reportedly provide “all documents showing, referencing, or explaining the financial relationship between Defendant Church [ILC] and Defendant District [FMD]." However, in ILC’s response to the request for admission, they denied having a financial relationship with FMD.
The plaintiffs requested FMD provide “All documents referring or relating to the relationship between DISTRICT and Defendant Ignite Life between 2012 and 2022.”
FMD responded “None…. Ignite Life Center has been a sovereign church, since approximately 1990.”
The plaintiffs requested FMD provide “All handbooks, rules, guidelines, and/or regulations issued to or made available to Ignite Life ministers, leadership, employees, volunteers, parents, and/or children between 2012 and 2022, regardless of when the documents were created, in your care, custody and/or control, regarding the sexual abuse of children.”
FMD’s response, “None.”
The plaintiffs requested FMD provide “All documents referring or relating to complaints, allegations, suspicions, rumors, and/or reports of sexually inappropriate behavior committed by any adult associated with Defendant Ignite Life Center against minor children prior to August 2021 in your care, custody and/or control.”
FMD responded, “Defendant objects to this request inasmuch as it is overly broad, vague, ambiguous and confusing, particularly as to time, and the phrases 'all documents referring or relating to' and 'associated with,' and as posed, appears to include materials prepared and/or obtained in anticipation of litigation, work product and materials protected by the attorney-client privilege.... Additionally, in a letter dated September 15, 2023, Defendant was informed by this Plaintiff’s counsel, of allegations of sexual misconduct allegedly perpetrated by Marcia Garcia Rondon against a female whose identity is, or reasonably should be, known to Plaintiff and/or his counsel, who, for the protection of the alleged victim’s privacy is identified herein as 'Jane P.A. Doe.'”
On October 7, 2024, the defendants and plaintiffs had a Zoom meeting to discuss settling the lawsuit and entered into a written settlement agreement.
The settlement has not been disclosed.
