Child sexual abuse case at Tucson church yields 10-year prison sentence

Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson sentenced Jose Mora, 59, to the presumptive prison term for attempted sexual conduct with a minor, the crime Mora admitted to. He had been indicted on 10 charges in two different cases involving two separate victims, but his plea agreement resolved both cases.

A 2024 Arizona Daily Star investigation into a global religious sect called The Message, with churches in Tucson, uncovered the abuse by Mora, leading to the Tucson police investigation and two indictments. In a recorded interview with the Star, he acknowledged sexual contact with a boy who was about 12 at the time.

The pastor of Mora’s church, Golden Dawn Tabernacle or Tabernaculo Emanuel, also was indicted, accused of failing to report Mora’s abuse to police, as documented in the Star’s reporting. That pastor, Isaac Noriega, was ruled incompetent to stand trial and is undergoing treatment to be restored to competency so he can face the charges.

Mora did not speak at the sentencing Tuesday, but he acknowledged his culpability to police and expressed remorse in a letter to the judge.

“I recognize the pain and difficulties my actions have caused both the victims and their families, as well as my own,” Mora wrote. “I only ask for the chance to return to them and to society as a productive member, to provide for my wife and sons and witness them start families of their own.”

“My actions are not a reflection of the person I want to be or of the role model I wish to set for my sons.”

Mora himself was a victim of sexual abuse by his father while growing up in Mexico, his attorney, Carter Santini, wrote in a sentencing memorandum, and never received any treatment to deal with it. Santini also blamed Mora’s church, which 20 former members called a “cult” in interviews with the Star, for the prolongation of the situation.

“Had the church not been so secretive, so clandestine, the victims may have had the opportunity for more resources when they were in their youth,” Santini said.

The two cases charged occurred between 1999 and 2002, and in 2012.

Neither of the victims in the two charged cases spoke at the sentencing, but Deputy Pima County Attorney Brad Roach said both victims recounted how badly their lives were affected by being abused.

Roach asked for a maximum sentence of 15 years, while Santini asked for an eight-year term. The 10-year sentence issued by Johnson will be reduced by the 558 days Mora spent in jail, meaning the remaining prison sentence is around 8½ years.