Ignite Life Center staff member sentenced to probation after original charge of lewd/lascivious battery on a minor was pled down to lesser charge

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Noel Cruz, 23, a staff member at Ignite Life Center who was arrested last February for lewd/lascivious battery on a victim under 16, has been sentenced to three years of probation, with adjudication of guilt withheld, after entering a plea of nolo contendere to a lesser charge of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony. The probation will be automatically terminated after 18 months if he has no violations.

Cruz was charged after a New York woman contacted a Gainesville Police Department Detective following the arrest of Gabriel Hemenez for sexually abusing several minors at an Ignite Life Center summer program.

The woman told the detective that her daughter had attended the Ignite Life Summer Internship in July 2021 and 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 this second girl, who was 15 in the summer of 2021, said that Cruz had actively pursued younger girls for sex and that she had been sexually active with Cruz as a minor; she reportedly told a detective that Cruz had admitted to having sex with her during a meeting between her family and the pastors of Ignite Life Center.

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.

In a plea agreement dated January 10, Cruz entered a plea of nolo contendere to a lesser charge of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony. According to the agreement, the maximum sentence for the charge is five years in state prison. Judge David Kreider sentenced Cruz to 36 months of probation, which will automatically terminate in 18 months if there are no violations and court costs are paid; adjudication of guilt was withheld.

Hemenez was convicted of two counts of lewd/lascivious molestation of a victim under 16 after entering a plea of nolo contendere to the charges and is serving a five-year sentence in state prison.

Christian David Vargas, who has been 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, is still awaiting trial.

Lawsuits filed by three families in Orange County against Ignite Life Center and the Florida Multicultural District Council of the Assemblies of God were settled in October.

  • Cruz case is a lie that one mention his name for money. And she not in in New York since yall want to post lies she lives in Georgia

    • You do realize that this page is reporting facts from arrest reports and subsequent legal documents. None of this is made up by the editor. If there are errors in the legal documents, in your opinion, don’t take it out on the editor, who is reporting it verbatim from the actual legal file.

      • The Chronicle refers to itself as “Local news you can trust,” not “Regurgitated police reports you can’t trust.”

  • Georgia Lady is a liar she did for money. Everyone that’s know about her. Knows her background and how she tries to get cases for money

  • I see here it shows that there was 2 woman under Noel Cruz case, which is highly incorrect, and as a publisher you should be ashamed of posting lies, because if you would have spoken to Noel himself you would realize that everything against him is wrong, this person from “New York” doesn’t even know who Noel is but is just trynna get money, the same thing they tried to do in New York when they had to file for bankruptcy so they tried to accuse someone in New York and didn’t work.

    • You do realize that this page is reporting facts from arrest reports and subsequent legal documents. None of this is made up by the editor. If there are errors in the legal documents, in your opinion, don’t take it out on the editor, who is reporting it verbatim from the actual legal file.

  • All these Cruz supporters coming here, with their bad grammar, to say that his accuser is just after money. It’s such a common way to defend the indefensible. “She’s just lying to get money.”

    Where’s the money supposed to come from in this case? Is Cruz a trust fund baby?

  • stop going to this Artificial Make Belief church , or you will be molested . Read Article for Proof & evidence this god is awful to allow children to be raped ,Awful & Embarrassing this is happening in 2025 . SAD

  • This is why pedophiles continue to victimize children- they get a slap on the wrist instead of a lengthy prison sentence! Absolutely disgusting

  • What is missing from this story is that at the same time this was going on Ignite Church was serving as a refugee center for unaccompanied migrant youth. I wonder if he had access to those children who were completely vulnerable and helpless. I wonder if this has something to do with the light sentence? Perhaps digging into that aspect would be the thread that unravels the sweater.

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