Former Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe Declines Interview on Ignite Life Center

On September 22, at the immigrant inclusion Building Belonging event, executive director of the Greater Gainesville International Center (GGIC) and former Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe was tabling for his organization.

On June 23, the lead pastor of Ignite Life Center (ILC), Mark Vega, talked about an email he received from a former Gainesville mayor. 

Vega said, “I worked closely with him in Gainesville, and he stated, ‘Listen, you guys have championed advocacy from the immigrants [and] unaccompanied minors. I am involved in a program called…’ I don’t know the exact name, but it's ‘greater Gainesville’ [the former Gainesville mayor said] ‘We do the same kind of work, but we do it with families, like families of ten, families from Afghanistan, families from Europe, Asia, South America, Venezuela; different families.’ What we had was [we] were working with unaccompanied minors, but this is now work with the entire family. We said, ‘This is what we do [and have] been doing for ten years. Why don’t you come and meet? We’ll talk.’ We met last week, [the second week of June] and he took a tour and [asked] ‘Is there any way I can move my office here?... This is incredible and phenomenal.’ Their staff is now going to come on Tuesday to take a tour, so soon we believe we’ll be partnering and continuing the same work we’ve been doing with families. We expect our first family of about four from Afghanistan, and they’ll be staying.”

The 15 minutes where Vega went off about his plans was re-uploaded to Youtube. 

Since July 2023, three people from ILC have been arrested for committing sex crimes against underaged children: (1) convicted child molester Gabriel Hemenez; (2) Vega’s son, alleged rapist Christian Vargas; and (3) former associate pastor Jose Cruz’s son, alleged statutory rapist Noel Cruz. 

Several anonymous and public whistleblowers have reported financial frauds, spiritual abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and the coverup of all the former.

Gnvinfo asked Poe for an interview about ILC. He said no. Gnvinfo asked why? Poe replied, “I don’t have to tell you why.” 

GnvInfo provided Poe with contact information in case he changed his mind.