SAN DIEGO - The former pastor of an El Centro-based church has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit benefits fraud.
Victor Gonzalez, who once led Imperial Valley Ministries, pleaded guilty in a San Diego court room Monday. Prosecutors say he and other church leaders, through 30 affiliate churches in the U.S. and Mexico, including one here in Chula Vista, would recruit homeless people to join the group and then force them to raise money through panhandling.
Those who joined the church were forced to live in group homes and surrender their ID cards and welfare benefits. Church leaders would apparently use the victims' SNAP (food stamps) benefits.
Gonzalez’s wife, Susan, along with two others, whom prosecutors identified as directors of the church's group homes, also pleaded guilty.