Sheriff's Office Received Report of Suspicious Activity on Ignite Life Center Senior Pastor in 2024
An Alachua County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) incident report recently obtained by GnvInfo sheds light on a suspicious activity report they received on Mark Vega back in 2024.
In November 2025, Vega was arrested and charged for failing to report suspected child abuse. Police reports describe how he concealed and failed to report several child sexual abuse incidents over multiple years.
From 2023 to the present, the Church has been embroiled in several criminal cases and civil lawsuits regarding child sexual abuse that have received extensive media attention. The Florida Multicultural District of the Assemblies of God is a co-defendant in several of the lawsuits.
On April 15, 2024, Deputy David A. Visconti responded to High Springs (where Vega resides) after Craig Mikell made a report regarding suspicious activity in his neighborhood located at the Grand Oaks Subdivision.
Visconti arrived on the scene and Mikell handed him a piece of paper that outlines the events involving the suspicious activity.
Visconti reported, "[Mikell] informed me that Mark Vega, who lives in his neighborhood at 21324 NW 217th Dr is the senior pastor at Ignite Life Center located at 404 NW 14th Ave, Gainesville, FL. He explained that the church has recently been involved in multiple sexual assault investigations. He further explained that there are active lawsuits being filed against Ignite Life Center, Assembly of God, and the pastors. [Mikell] explained that Mark’s son or nephew, Christian David Vargas was arrested on multiple sexual assault charges. Furthermore, the assistant pastor [Jose] Cruz's son [Noel Cruz], [and] Gabriel Hemenez, [were] arrested and sentenced..."
According to the report, Mikell said when Vega first moved into the subdivision around 2019-2020, he or his spouse heard a comment from Vega that they were "bringing in undocumented minors to their church."
Mikell began noticing vehicle traffic coming and going from Vega's house between 11 p.m. and midnight. He said two or three vehicles would go to the residence and leave together.
Mikell explained that his neighbor "observed or had camera footage of a black Mercedes sprinter van go to Vega’s residence. This van was 'fully loaded' with young females all wearing the same outfit, possibly blue in color. It appeared as there was an older female wearing white who was in charge of them. They observed them all enter Vega’s residence."
The report continues, "Supposedly the odd vehicle traffic occurred for a couple years leading up to Vega’s son's arrest. Since then the vehicle traffic has just about seized, but there are still vehicles coming and going during the week, at normal afternoon hours."
Visconti reported, "This was all the information [Mikell] had to report. He felt it was odd and suspicious in nature due to the circumstances at the church and high traffic at the lead pastor’s residence. I captured a photograph of the pre-printed text [Mikell] had made with my agency issued body worn camera."
Ignite Life Center previously had a program called Refugio with Urban Strategies where they housed unaccompanied minors. Around the time that program ended (Summer 2024), Ignite Life Center started working with Lauren Poe and his nonprofit the Greater Gainesville International Center (GGIC) to serve as temporary housing for refugee families.
Poe and GGIC left Ignite Life Center after Vega was charged and moved to the United Church of Gainesville.
Vega is currently on pretrial release and has no travel restrictions.
