Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Newly-filed court documents have revealed more information about alleged sexual activity associated with youth programs at Ignite Life Center in Gainesville.

Christian David Vargas, 20, was arrested on July 18, 2023, and charged with lewd or lascivious battery on a victim under 16 and lewd or lascivious conduct by an adult in two separate cases that both reportedly occurred at Ignite Life Center, 404 NW 14th Avenue. He was released on $40,000 bond.

Noel Cruz, 22, was arrested on February 19 and charged with lewd or lascivious battery on a victim under the age of 16.

The new incidents came to light in July 2023, when a New York woman contacted a Gainesville Police Department Detective after Gabriel Hemenez was arrested and charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and one count of attempted sexual battery of a minor; those alleged incidents also reportedly took place at Ignite Life Center.

The woman told the detective that her daughter had attended the Ignite Life Summer Internship in July 2021, and the woman said she also traveled to Gainesville for the program and helped cook meals during the program. The woman said her daughter had told her at the time that sexual behaviors were occurring between the youth at the camp, but her daughter had also told her more recently that she was sexually abused when she attended the program in 2018.

The woman said her daughter had been communicating with another girl who attended the summer program in 2021, and the other girl said that Cruz and Vargas, both adults at the time, had actively pursued younger girls for sex. This girl, who was 17 last fall, reportedly said she had been sexually active with both men at Ignite.

The second girl later told a detective that she first had sexual intercourse with Vargas in June 2021, when she was 15 and Vargas was 17; she said they had sex in an area of the church called the “furnace” and at various locations in the church during church services.

The second girl told the detective that after her parents found out about the relationship, they had arranged a meeting with the pastors of the church in November 2022; she said both Cruz and Vargas admitted to having sex with her and that the meeting felt like a time of restoration and a chance to put everything behind them. She said one pastor tried to scare both men with jail, but he said jail would not resolve the issue.

Another witness told the detective that the second girl’s family was led to believe that restoration and healing would happen after the meeting, but nothing changed and Cruz and Vargas acted as if nothing had happened.

After Cruz was arrested, the State Attorney’s Office filed a motion asking that he be held without bond until the case is resolved, arguing that “there is a substantial probability that the defendant poses the threat of harm to the community.” However, Judge David Kreider denied the motion and confirmed the conditions set at Cruz’s first appearance hearing: no contact with the victim, no unsupervised contact with minor children, no weapons, and a GPS monitor. Cruz posted a bond of $100,000 and was released.

The report stated that Vargas would not be charged in the incidents described above, but his other two cases are still working their way through the court system. Hemenez remains in the Alachua County Jail with bail of $100,000 and has a hearing for a change of plea scheduled for this week.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.