Former elder of the Twelve Tribes sentenced to decades in prison for raping and sexually assaulting two girls

A man once considered a trusted elder in the Twelve Tribe communities in Raynham and Hyannis was sentenced Wednesday to 30 to 40 years in prison after he was convicted last month on 25 charges of molesting, sexually assaulting and raping two girls over one The Bristol Crown Prosecution Service said he had been sentenced for a period of four years.

Nehemya Smith, 37, of Plymouth, like the victims, was born into the secluded religious group, according to court documents filed in Bristol Superior Court.

According to court documents, the abuse went undetected from 2016 to 2020. One of the girls was 12 when it began and the other was 14, records show.

“The chronicity and severity of the abuse committed by this defendant will leave a lifelong scar on these victims,” prosecutors in the office of District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III in Bristol wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Sept. 27.

According to prosecutors, Smith was an “elder” within the Twelve Tribes, an international religious organization whose members give up their property and live in community. They have several locations in New England and operate the Common Ground Café in Hyannis, where records show some of the abuse occurred.

“Each community is led by male elders who lead the community and make all decisions,” the ruling said.

The abuse occurred in Hyannis in Barnstable County, Milton in Norfolk County and Raynham in Bristol County, Quinn’s office said.

The first victim to come forward initially reached out to her older sister. The girl said Smith first abused her when she was 14 on the tribal property where they lived in Raynham, and that it escalated over the years, court records show.

When the girl’s older sister confronted Smith and shamed him on Facebook, it prompted the second victim to come forward, the memo said. The second victim told authorities that most of the abuse occurred in Hyannis, where Smith moved, prosecutors said.

Tribal members eventually confronted Smith and he and his wife left the tribe, documents say.

“The girls grew up in a secluded community, an environment that should have protected them from the dangers of the outside world,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing. “But trapped in such a strict and patriarchal community, they instead became victims for years.”

According to court documents, the girls have since left the Twelve Tribes.

Prosecutors consolidated the Barnstable and Norfolk County cases and tried them in Bristol Superior Court in New Bedford.

On September 3, after a two-week trial, a jury convicted Smith of eleven counts of aggravated rape of a child, nine counts of indecent assault on a person over the age of 14, four counts of indecent assault on a person under 14, and one count of rape .

Judge Renee Dupuis ordered Smith to serve 10 years of supervised release after completing his sentence.

Tonya Alanez can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @talanez.