Lawsuit Filed Against Arizona Religious Community Alleging Decade of Forced Labor, Coercion, and Family Separation
Tucson, AZ – A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of plaintiff Joshua Lilly against the Global Community Communications Alliance (GCCA) and its leadership. The complaint alleges that GCCA, a closed religious community operating on a 227-acre compound in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, subjected Mr. Lilly to over a decade of forced labor, psychological coercion, economic manipulation, and family separation in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). The case, Lilly v. Estate of Van of Urantia et al., Case No. 4:26-cv-00369-JG, is filed in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Tucson Division.
Mr. Lilly was brought into the GCCA community at approximately 12 years old by his parents, both of whom became senior leaders within the organization. He was expelled at 16, and then rejoined GCCA in 2006 following years of sustained pressure from family members still inside the community, and remained until his final forced departure in November 2016. During that decade, the complaint alleges, he served as GCCA's licensed general contractor, designing and constructing more than forty structures on the compound, working 12-20 hours per day, seven days a week, without wages, benefits, or any employment protections. All revenue he generated through outside contracting work was surrendered in full to GCCA.
GCCA maintained control over members through an interlocking system of coercive mechanisms, including physical and informational isolation on a remote compound, a community-wide peer surveillance and reporting program, a mandatory disciplinary program that imposed a purported $50,000 debt on members to prevent their departure, forced liquidation of all assets upon entry, mandatory psychological counseling used as an instrument of compliance rather than care, and the systematic weaponization of family separation to punish resistance. Members who expressed a desire to leave were subjected to escalating discipline, custody threats, and financial demands.
As a condition of membership, Mr. Lilly was required to sign documents providing that if he left GCCA, his children would remain in the custody of the parent staying with the organization or in GCCA's custody itself. When GCCA demanded that Mr. Lilly's contact with his own children be subject to prior leadership approval and elder supervision, he refused and was expelled, left in Nogales, Arizona with no money, no housing, and no support network. Within weeks, GCCA served him with divorce and custody papers and conditioned any possibility of return on the surrender of parental rights and payment of $50,000. Under those circumstances, Mr. Lilly surrendered to supervised visitation. His last supervised visit with his approximately eighteen-month-old son Cleson lasted just one hour, the final time he would see his son alive. On August 26, 2016, Mr. Lilly received a call informing him that Cleson had died. He was expelled from the compound before his son's funeral and required to seek permission from GCCA's founder to deliver a eulogy.
"Joshua Lilly gave GCCA over a decade of his life including skilled labor, his assets, his freedom, and ultimately access to his children," said Kristina Aiad-Toss, Counsel at Singleton Schreiber. "He received nothing in return but coercion, surveillance, and the grief of a father who lost his son while GCCA controlled access to him. What is described as a spiritual community is in reality a forced labor operation, and the federal trafficking laws exist precisely to hold organizations like this accountable."
The complaint names GCCA, the Estate of Anthony Joseph Delevin, the organization's founder and self-proclaimed prophet who died in August 2025, along with senior leaders Nancy "Niánn" Emerson Chase, Stacy "TiyiEndea" Myszka, Catherine Lilly (Mr. Lilly's mother), and Celinas Ruth, as well as corporate defendants Soulistic Medical Institute and Avalon Universal Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Arc Roofing and Earth Harmony Builders, as defendants. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the fair market value of Mr. Lilly's labor, loss of earning capacity, assets surrendered upon entry, legal costs imposed through GCCA-initiated proceedings, and severe emotional distress, including harm associated with the loss of his son.
Lilly v. Global Community Communications Alliance et al
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