IV MINISTRIES
defends its practices
EL CENTRO — Despite the uncertainty of being the subject of an ongoing federal investigation, Pastor Victor Gonzalez said that activities at Imperial Valley Ministries have resumed no differently than before the May 22 raid by the FBI.
The church continues to publicly fundraise throughout the Valley and minister to individuals with substance-use problems, housing them at the organization’s recovery homes under the same rules and conditions as before.
At once both uncertain and unapologetic, Gonzalez said his spirits have been kept afloat by an outpouring of support from individuals whose lives have benefited from the organization’s recovery program.
“I don’t think I did anything bad.” he said. “Whatever the accusations are, we didn’t do any of that.”
To date, the FBI has yet to disclose the motivation for its court-authorized enforcement action against multiple properties belonging to IV Ministries here in the Valley and across the country on May 22.
The coordinated raids reportedly resulted in the local seizure of about $45,000 in cash, as well as financial records, electronic devices and the public benefits card of at least one recovery house guest, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said he is also resigned to face any consequences that may possibly result from the ongoing FBI investigation.
He said he suspects the enforcement action might have stemmed from the family of a former female guest alleging their family member was held at a local recovery home against their will.
He denies such an incident ever took place, and said that staff had attempted to accommodate the guest as much as possible, even offering to bring the woman’s child to reside with her at the recovery home.
“If that’s a crime, then I don’t know what to do,” he said. “I just wanted for her to be a mother.”
Whatever the reason for the FBI raids, last week’s enforcement action has resulted in an apparent uptick in the number of people publicly voicing concerns about IV Ministries’ longstanding activities, which one former recovery house guest referred to as exploitative and akin to “brainwashing.”
After recently finding herself homeless again, El Centro resident Shaunte Martinez said she had applied for entry at a local IV Ministries’ recovery home, only to be taken aback at the home’s strict rules and IVM staff’s expectations of their guests.
“They wanted me to speak in tongues and I wouldn’t,” Martinez said.
I don’t think I did anything bad. Whatever the accusations are, we didn’t do any of that. Pastor Victor Gonzalez
During the two weeks Martinez had been housed with IVM, she said she had also observed multiple children of house guests residing in one overcrowded room. Those children would often be left in the care of IVM volunteers for extended periods of time while their mothers attended to mandatory fundraising duties, she said. Most troubling of all was the children’s reported exposure to individuals withdrawing from illicit substances at the recovery home, Martinez said.
“You don’t need children around that,” she said. “It’s just a wrong combination.”
Gonzalez said that in some instances children may be exposed to individuals going through withdrawals, but that such encounters are kept to a minimum as much as possible.
He also explained that fundraising activities at times require house guests, including mothers of children residing at the recovery homes, to go on overnight trips out of town, but that an emphasis is placed on allowing parents to remain with their children as much as possible.
“They have to learn how to be mothers to their kids,” Gonzalez said.
About half of the individuals who come to reside at the ministries’ local recovery homes end up staying with the program, Gonzalez said. All told, IVM has about 80 people working as staff members, volunteers and residing as guests at its recovery homes.
Those receiving public assistance of any kind are also required to share 30 percent of their monthly income with IVM, as part of its stated rules and regulations for recovery homes guests.
Drug treatment facilities where residents are housed in a communal living arrangement are authorized to use individual residents’ public assistance benefits for the purchase of food for the homes, the county Department of Social Services reported.
Valley resident Patricia Thompson said she had been contacted by the FBI in November after the agency became aware of her concerns about IVM as a result of a close friend of the family having a troubling experience with the organization.
Thompson told federal investigators that IV Ministries had taken her goddaughter, who has behavioral health issues, to Texas to fundraise and then left her stranded after they and an IVM staffer had a physical altercation.
The friend of the family was eventually able to return to the Valley on a chartered bus, with the help of Texas law-enforcement officials.
Thompson’s goddaughter had been a guest of IVM’s recovery homes more than once in the past, repeatedly resulting in incidents that have made Thompson all the more suspect about its activities.
“She once had to go to the hospital after fundraising for 14 hours with no water in the summer while she was pregnant,” Thompson said. “Personally, I think they’re dangerous.”
Gonzalez said he can understand why some members of the community make be critical of the organization’s practices, especially as they relate to addressing an individual’s drug addiction.
Yet, such strategies are often required for people who have all but exhausted their other options and have a history of exploiting others for their own gain, he said.
Although not all of the recovery house guests are required to fundraise, many do and are also expected to bring home about $50 to $100 during each outing.
A former drug addict himself, Gonzalez said it is not uncommon for a person with a substance-use problem to raise a similar amount of money panhandling.
“The discipline is for them to have some kind of foundation,” Gonzalez said.