Editor鈥檚 note: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence against children.
Tucson police are investigating allegations that a longtime member of the Golden Dawn Tabernacle molested a boy in 2012 and the church鈥檚 pastor covered it up.
A member of a Tucson church admitted he molested a boy. The pastor said he knew and never went to the police, flouting state laws that mandate reporting of such incidents.
The police investigation comes after the Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team and the Arizona Daily Star reported that at the hands of a congregant named Jose Mora, a man who was still in good standing in the church when the newspaper report was published in November.
Mora that he touched the genital area and buttocks of a boy from his church. Mora was about 45 when the incidents happened, and said he knew that the boy, Philip, was either 11 or 12 at the time. Philip said Mora also penetrated him with his fingers and forced him to have oral sex, which Mora denies.
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Since the November report, another former Golden Dawn member has come forward to accuse pastor Noriega of failing to make a report to police after she told him she was raped at age 7 by an older boy from the church. Noriega did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this allegation.
Under Arizona law, priests and clergy members are mandatory reporters who must make a report to law enforcement or the Department of Child Safety when they have a 鈥渞easonable belief鈥� that a child is the victim of abuse. Failure to report child molestation is a felony.
The newspaper investigation .
Tucson police spokesperson Frank Magos said the police investigation into Mora and Noriega 鈥渋s still ongoing.鈥� He said the newspaper report is part of what the police department is looking at, and that the investigation has been extended by the discovery of new information.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking into the possibility of additional victims,鈥� Magos said. 鈥淲ith that, we鈥檙e asking any current or former church members to come forward and talk to us.鈥�
Magos asked that anyone with information call the child sexual assault unit at 520-837-7529.
Anjounette Thorstad, 43, who attended the church as a child, said she is one of the people who are coming forward. She has an interview scheduled with a Tucson police detective in mid-April.

Anjounette Thorstad left the Golden Dawn Tabernacle when she was 17. She said she was abused as a child by a teenager who went to the church. When pastor Isaac Noriega found out about her allegations years later, the pastor made 鈥渢he conscious decision to ignore it,鈥� she said.
Thorstad said she told pastor Noriega about sexual abuse she experienced as a young girl, and the pastor did nothing.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 pursue it, didn鈥檛 seem to even care about it,鈥� Thorstad said of Noriega. 鈥淎nd of course, nothing ever happened to the individual.鈥�
Another victim ignored
In the late 1980s, Thorstad said she and her two older brothers would often go over to the house of another family from their church, the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, which also goes by its formal name Tabernaculo Emanuel.
The family from church wanted to help support Thorstad鈥檚 mother, who had just given birth to triplets. Thorstad, her older brothers and the family鈥檚 three boys would often play together.
Thorstad said she was taking a nap in the living room one day in 1988 while her brothers and the two younger boys played basketball outside. She said she didn鈥檛 realize that the oldest boy, about 14 at the time, had come into the living room by her and locked everyone else out.
鈥淗e basically woke me up by raping me,鈥� Thorstad said.
Thorstad was 7.
Thorstad said her mind blocked out what happened next.
All she remembers is going home and hiding her bloodied underwear in a drawer. Her mother found them and asked who touched her, Thorstad said. But she refused to answer for years even after repeated questioning from multiple family members.
A few weeks after the incident, Thorstad said she told her 5-year-old cousin, who told her mother, who brought it to Thorstad鈥檚 mother. Thorstad still would not say the boy鈥檚 name because she was afraid she would get in trouble.
Thorstad said the teenage boy continued to sexually abuse her for two years, including incidents where he penetrated her with his fingers, put a small object inside of her vagina and showed her pornographic magazines.
Thorstad asked that the name of her alleged perpetrator not be shared publicly because her goal isn鈥檛 to seek charges against him. She said he has already spent time in jail for other crimes.
Thorstad said she wanted to come forward because her story is yet another example of Noriega failing to report the sexual abuse of minors to law enforcement. She said he and the church need to be held accountable.
Alleged sexual abuse of minors has been covered up in a Tucson church for decades, an investigation finds. The pastor dismissed allegations, blamed victims and screamed at police.聽
When Thorstad was 16, she said, she felt ignored when she discussed her allegations with Noriega and her mother during a counseling session.
Thorstad鈥檚 mother was angry that Thorstad and her boyfriend, also a teenager, were engaging in consensual sexual activity before marriage.
鈥淚 asked her, 鈥榃hy are you trying to do something about my boyfriend when you never did anything about my rapist when I was 7?鈥欌€� Thorstad said. She said she used the name of her alleged perpetrator aloud in front of her mother 鈥� and Noriega 鈥� for the first time.
鈥淭he pastor 鈥� it seemed like he already knew about it because he didn鈥檛 ask, 鈥榃ait, what do you mean?鈥� He just asked my mom, 鈥榊eah, why didn鈥檛 (you) do anything?鈥欌€�
Thorstad remembers her mother answering Noriega鈥檚 questions, and then Noriega turned to Thorstad.

Noriega
鈥淗e said, 鈥榃ell, if it makes you feel any better Anjounette,鈥� 鈥� which, I don鈥檛 know how this is gonna make me feel better 鈥� but he said, 鈥榠f it makes you feel any better, you鈥檙e not the first person to come with us regarding this individual and being inappropriate with girls,鈥欌€� Thorstad remembers Noriega telling her. 鈥溾€楤ut since he鈥檚 no longer a member of our church, we鈥檙e not going to concern ourselves with him.鈥欌€�
Thorstad said her abuser had left Golden Dawn Tabernacle a few years prior when he turned 18.
Thorstad said she doesn鈥檛 blame her mother because she didn鈥檛 have enough information to act without the alleged perpetrator鈥檚 name. And her mother tried many times to talk with her about what happened.
But Thorstad said something still could have been done when she brought her allegations to Noriega 鈥� or when other girls had reported similar allegations to the pastor.
鈥淭he fact that he was just like, 鈥極h yeah, you鈥檙e not the first one,鈥欌€� Thorstad said. 鈥淭hen why aren鈥檛 you doing anything about it? You absolutely can report it 鈥� but you鈥檙e not. You鈥檙e choosing not to, in my eyes. If you know about it, and you know it鈥檚 happened to multiple people, you鈥檙e making the conscious decision to ignore it.鈥�
Pattern of inaction
Noriega has demonstrated a similar pattern of dismissing sexual abuse allegations, even in interviews with reporters.
Noriega described the alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl by a 27-year-old man from his church as the two of them 鈥渉aving sex.鈥� When a reporter explained that a 17-year-old cannot consent to sex with an adult, so sexual activity between those two congregants would actually be rape, Noriega said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 understand that because I never knew that before.鈥�
In the same Sept. 11 phone interview, Noriega said he knew that Mora and the 11-year-old boy 鈥渢ouched each other.鈥� But he said the boy started it and the 鈥渇ather was OK with it,鈥� so the issue was over. The father said in an interview that he was in no way OK with his son being abused.
Noriega said he did not report the allegations to police.
Noriega claimed in a later email that he had only known about the allegations for about a year, not since 2012, which is when the father claims he told the pastor.
The father said he sought advice from Noriega about Mora allegedly sexually abusing his son, and Noriega told him, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 go to the law.鈥� Noriega denies this conversation took place. The father said he listened to Noriega鈥檚 advice and kept the allegations secret for years because of the deep respect he has for the office of the pastor.
Noriega is considered the highest authority figure in Golden Dawn congregants鈥� lives 鈥� even above law enforcement, former congregants said.
When people tried to report other child sexual assault allegations to the pastor, Noriega screamed at police, yelled at a congregant who tried to show him evidence, compared sexual allegations to 鈥渢wo children fighting over a toy鈥� and said another allegation 鈥渨asn鈥檛 a big deal,鈥� .
鈥楯ust wanted out鈥�
Thorstad said she left Golden Dawn Tabernacle when she was 17 because she 鈥渏ust wanted out as soon as possible.鈥�
One reason was that Noriega wouldn鈥檛 let her marry her boyfriend in part due to their differing races. Thorstad is Hispanic, and her boyfriend at that time was white.
Golden Dawn Tabernacle claims to be part of 鈥淭he Message,鈥� a Christian religious sect whose members believe a 20th-century preacher named William Branham is their prophet. and . Some offshoots of the sect, including Golden Dawn, have been accused of being cults, .
Thorstad said she never believed in the church鈥檚 rules and doctrines. She refused to be baptized because she didn鈥檛 want the church to have control over her.
And Thorstad wanted to be more than just a homemaker 鈥� something she said the church never would have allowed her to do. Thorstad said her mother took her out of high school after her sophomore year.
鈥溾€榊ou don鈥檛 need an education,鈥欌€� she remembers her mom telling her. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e never going to amount to anything but a housewife anyway. You need to learn how to cook and clean and stay home so that you can take care of your family when the time comes.鈥欌€�
鈥淎nd I didn鈥檛 want that. I wanted to be a nurse.鈥�
Thorstad has now been a licensed practical nurse for five years. She delayed her career when she became a young mother, but she eventually went back to school and earned her high school diploma online.
She is continuing her schooling to get an associate鈥檚 degree in the applied science of nursing so she can be a registered nurse.
鈥淚 took it in my own hands to pursue what I wanted in life, and didn鈥檛 let the church stop me,鈥� she said.
Contact reporter Emily Hamer at emily.hamer@lee.net or 262-844-4151. On Twitter: @ehamer7. Contact Tim Steller at tsteller@tucson.com