Tucson man pleads guilty in church-related child molestation case

Jose Mora pleaded guilty Monday to attempted sexual conduct with a minor, a class 3 felony. Mora, 59, has been indicted in two different cases involving three different alleged victims.

This plea agreement resolved the first case, which involved two people victimized around 2012. The original indictment, handed down on April 15, 2025, charged Mora with eight counts: Five counts of child molestation and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor under 15.

The second indictment, filed in 2026, charged Mora with two counts: Continuous sexual abuse of a child and sexual conduct with a minor under 15. The alleged crimes in that place took place between 1999 and 2002.

Mora was indicted after an Arizona Daily Star investigation of Golden Dawn Tabernacle, a south side church also known as Tabernaculo Emanuel, and the religious sect it is part of, called The Message. Young members of the church, 301 E. Los Reales Road, told the Star that Mora had victimized them, and Mora acknowledged sexual contact with one boy in an interview.

In the investigation, church members accused the church’s founder and longtime pastor, Isaac Noriega, of failing to report sexual abuse by Mora. In June 2025, Noriega was indicted on two counts of failure to report, one of them a felony and the other a misdemeanor.

The prosecution of Noriega has been held up by a finding that he was incompetent to stand trial. In April, Pima County Superior Court Judge Mark Hotchkiss ordered that efforts be undertaken to restore Noriega to competency.

Noriega’s next hearing is Oct. 19. Sentencing has not yet been set for Mora, who is being held in the Pima County jail without bond.