California: self-proclaimed curandero's convictions for sexually assaulting followers under threat of illness and death affirmed

Proceedings

1. Date in cited record · jury verdict

   Los Angeles County Superior Court, California. Juan Espinosa Cardenas, a self-proclaimed curandero, was convicted of multiple sex offenses against adult female adherents of curanderismo whom he had persuaded to live with him and submit to sexual 'treatments' under threat of continued illness and death.

2. 1994-01-12 · direct appeal, 21 Cal.App.4th 927

   California Court of Appeal, Fourth District. Convictions affirmed; the court held the victims' submission to Cardenas's sexual demands was the product of duress established through psychological and physical deprivation, rejecting his argument that belief in his curandero status meant they had voluntarily submitted.

Appellate history

1. California Court of Appeal, Fourth District affirmed the convictions on January 12, 1994; the decision is cited as controlling precedent on duress by California courts as recently as 2024.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• claimed spiritual/healing authority as a curandero to adherents of curanderismo
• warned a victim she was gravely ill and would die without his 'cure'
• physically and psychologically weakened victims through controlled medication, diet and sleep deprivation over months
• isolated victims from outside contact, requiring them to live with him
• threatened that bad spirits would harm them if they went near windows or left the apartment