Bagen Firm Moving Forward with Legal Action Against Gainesville Church in Orange County Civil Lawsuit
ORANGE COUNTY - On February 18, 2025, Bagen Law Firm sued Gainesville Church Ignite Life Center (ILC) and the Orlando-based Florida Multicultural District (FMD) of the Assemblies of God (AG) on behalf of Plaintiff (Jane Doe) and her mom (Mother Doe) for negligence and vicarious liability, along with Christian Vargas for sexual battery. The defendants denied the allegations.
Vargas is the son of Mark Vega, who serves as head pastor at ILC.
Both Vargas and Vega have open criminal cases. Vargas was arrested in July 2023 on one count of lewd or lascivious battery and one count of lewd or lascivious conduct for allegedly raping a 12-to 13-year-old girl when he was 16 and sexually coercing a 14-year-old girl when he was 17–18. The incidents occurred at ILC.
Vega was arrested in November 2025 on a count of failing to report suspected child abuse.
Vargas and Vega are both out on bond.
The complaint in the Bagen lawsuit is confidential, but court documents make it clear the suit accuses Vargas of working for ILC and FMD while committing sexual abuse.
Dismissal Motions Denied
In April 2025, FMD filed a dismissal motion that denied Vargas working for them, and Bagen Firm responded that Vargas “was a youth leader at ILC… and was specially trained as a leader, including training and oversight by [FMD], and was tasked with leadership positions over children of a sensitive age.”
ILC also filed a motion to dismiss their count of vicarious liability.
Judge Michael Deen denied both dismissal motions at a hearing in July 2025.
FMD Declines to Disclose Plaintiff's Requested Evidence
In August 2025, Bagen Firm submitted a request for a multitude of documents and records relating to the case.
In December 2025, FMD submitted a response to Bagen Firm and mostly declined to disclose the requested evidence, citing broadness, attorney-client communication privileges, or simply not having the material in question.
Bagen Firm requested “all documents referring or relating to all [FMD] programs, groups, or activities with which Christian Vargas was associated at any time, including but not limited to rosters, volunteer applications, awards, trip applications, photographs, and media recordings."
FMD’s response: “None.”
Bagen Firm requested all documents relating to the relationship between FMD and ILC from 2015 to 2022, and FMD responded that they have “none” because ILC “has been a sovereign church since approximately 1990.”
FMD denied having any documents relating to a financial relationship with ILC.
Bagen Firm requested “All documents referring or relating to [FMD’s] involvement, however small, with the Ignite 'The Call Matters' between 2015 and 2022.”
FMD responded that the request was “not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” before stating that ILC was not under the governance of FMD during the time the documents were requested.
Bagen Firm requested Vagras’ background check, and FMD responded that the request was “not applicable.”
Abatement Motion
Police pressed charges against Vega in August 2025 but he wasn't arrested until November 2025 after a warrant was issued.
In October 2025, ILC filed a motion to abate i.e. pause the lawsuit, arguing that Vega risks incriminating himself.
Motion for Protective Order
On January 15, 2026, ILC filed a motion for a protective order, which is largely similar to the abatement motion, however, the abatement motion acts more like a pause button for the lawsuit, while the protective order is akin to a legal shield for evidence disclosure, generally referred to as discovery.
ILC Attorney Madeline Villani argued the following:
“A criminal action was brought against Pastor Mark Vega, the president and director of Ignite Life Center, Inc., by the State Attorney's office... Mark Vega was charged with one count of failure to report suspected child abuse, abandonment under Florida Statute 39.205(1)...
On or about February 28, 2025, the Plaintiff filed its "Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial against Defendant [ILC]... for Negligence… and Vicarious Liability…
Within the subject complaint… Plaintiff has alleged ‘The Defendant breached its duties...to warn Plaintiff about Christian Vargas’ propensity to sexually abuse vulnerable church members prior to 2021 and failing to adequately supervise Christian Vargas in the performance of his duties…’ Plaintiff alleged that Christian Vargas as ‘an appointee, employee, and/or servant of [ILC],’ ‘was authorized to touch Plaintiff in his role as [ILC’s] agent,’ and 'Christian Vargas extended and converted this authorized touching into the sexual assault of Plaintiff.’ The allegations against Christian Vargas, put forth in the complaint are criminal in nature and come from the same set of facts that have led to the pending criminal charges by the State of Florida…
This motion seeks a protective order for a stay of discovery until the pending criminal proceeding against Pastor Mark Vega is concluded and disposed of…
If the Defendant in the civil case here were subjected to discovery, any statements made or documents produced by [ILC] may be used to build a case against Pastor Mark Vega in the parallel criminal proceeding. In addition, any such statements or materials sought from [ILC] during these civil proceedings could undermine any criminal defense(s) with resulting prejudice to the Pastor Mark Vega... As the criminal complaint was filed more than 6 months after the filing of this civil action, discovery in this civil action will likely be used to aid any ongoing criminal investigation and the pending prosecution.”
The motion cites Vega’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and goes on to argue:
“This is a private cause of action between two private parties. None are public figures; the outcome of this case does not have any social implications. The public has no stake in this case. If the Plaintiff were to recover money or assets, this will have no effect on the public at large…
Any statements made or documents produced in compliance with the Plaintiff s discovery requests are likely to be used by the Gainesville Police Department and State Attorney's Office to bolster the criminal case against [ILC's] President and Director, Pastor Mark Vega, via discovery in this matter. Pastor Mark Vega is not just under investigation or facing a potential indictment, rather he has been formally charged with a crime, an alleged violation of Florida Statute 39.205(1)...
The fact that the criminal charges against [ILC's] Director and President are pending should most certainly allow a stay as to discovery pending the resolution of the criminal charges…
Furthermore, the degree of overlap between parallel civil and criminal proceedings is the 'most important threshold issue' in determining whether a stay of a civil proceeding is warranted. S.E.C. v. HealthSouth Corp., 261 F. Supp. 2d 1298, 1326 (N.D. Ala. 2003). Stays have been granted to halt civil litigation that threatened to impede criminal investigations which had yet to yield an indictment."
Based on court records, the Bagen suit has been pending for almost an entire year but has only had one hearing which was for the dismissal motions, and that was over six months ago. This has caused motions to stack up without orders. It’s unclear if the motions will have separate hearings or be consolidated into one hearing.
Records show the case is currently scheduled for jury trial in Orlando on February 1, 2027, however, depending on how long Vega's criminal case drags out, the date could change, especially if ILC is successful in their motions to hold the suit off.
