Sources: Unadfi 11/07/2023, South-West & France Bleue, 22/06/2023

Thursday, June 22, the Pau court looked into two cases involving ten parents members of the Twelve Tribes community, none of whom were present in the courtroom. They were prosecuted for illegal schooling and “forgery and use of forgery in registering their children for home education”. A mother was also tried for violence against her daughter.

The case already judged in 2021 was judged at the request of the defendants who were absent during their first conviction. This new hearing once again took place in their absence. Speaking through the voice of their lawyer, they stated that “all the parents of children no longer reside in the community because they are in breach of French law or at least expose themselves to criminal prosecution, therefore have chosen to leave France. ”

The investigation which began in 2014 gave rise to a search in 2019 during which the educational shortcomings of the children of the community came to light. Their teaching was based only on “homemade” manuals based on the Bible, without references external to the group so as to conform to the beliefs of the followers. The investigators had also noted significant educational deficiencies in the subjects of common core knowledge and the impossibility for the children to “develop a personal argumentation”.

During the June 22 hearing, Mrs Patricia Cocrelle, who represents the victims, wondered: “how can you put a figure on the harm and loss caused by these educational deficiencies which are much more serious than one can think? without knowledge, being totally conditioned, these children will not be able to become free and independent adults,” she added. She claimed 1,000 euros in damages per child and 1,500 more for the one who was beaten with a stick. This kind of beating is a common punishment in the group and one that the three accused members had defended, while under police custody, as a practice done for “educational purpose” and as “an act of love”.

At the end of the hearing, the prosecutor, Richard Pineau, asked for the same damages as the lawyer and requested six months suspended prison sentence for illegal schooling and four months more for the mother accused of violence.

The court will deliver its decision on September 7.

Author: Unadfi

Translation from French by Rosemary Cruzado

by Colie Dorfman June 29, 2022

The Twelve Tribes sect is currently under investigation for igniting one of the most destructive fires in Colorado state history.

This expansive fire, later coined “The Marshall Fire”, set over 1,100 homes ablaze in Boulder County on Dec. 30, 2021–  a catastrophic event that would not be easily forgotten by Superior and Louisville residents.

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) and Denver FBI have combined forces with the U.S. Forest Service to investigate where the fire started.

Investigators have narrowed the ignition point down to two locations: One on the Twelve Tribes compound and the other at the Marshall Mesa Trailhead. Back in December of 2005, a smoldering coal mine that lies under the trailhead sparked a small wildfire in the area and has been on Boulder County’s radar ever since.

On the day of the fire, a neighbor of the Twelve Tribes, Mike Zoltowski, peered out his window at 11:30 a.m. and noticed billowing smoke coming from the Twelve Tribes property.

Zoltowski told the Denver Post the 100 mph winds nearly knocked him over on his way to the Eldorado Springs Drive compound. Upon inspection, he saw two younger men carrying an older man. After Zoltowski confronted them, the younger Twelve Tribes members told him the older man had broken his arm and that one of their dwellings had caught on fire.

Shortly after, Anjan Sapkota captured a video of a dilapidated shed in flames on the Twelve Tribes property at 11:51 a.m. on Dec. 30 while passing by in their car.

A park ranger’s report of the Marshall Fire corroborated both Sapkota and Zoltowski’s stories.

Emergency dispatch was called to Highway 93 and Marshall Road after someone reported seeing smoke, possibly from a down power line.

Kelly McBride, a ranger for Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, responded that she was in the area when the smoke was reported at approximately 11:08 a.m. After McBride and firefighters checked where Highway 93 and Colorado I-70 intersect, also known as Eldorado Springs Drive and sometimes referred to as Marshall Road, no smoke was apparent. Instead, there was a down communications cable.

Upon inspection, Michelle Aguayo, an Xcel Energy spokeswoman, told 9News that, “nothing we have seen at this point in the investigation leads us to believe that our equipment’s operation ignited the fire.”

The ranger documented that at 11:20 a.m., a ground fire started on the Twelve Tribes property and at 11:32 a.m., their shed was ablaze.

Upwind from the Twelve Tribes near the Marshall Mesa trailhead, McBride noted in her report that a second plume of smoke rose from the southwest side of open space land at noon.

In a press conference on January 3, 2022, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle acknowledged the viral video posted on Twitter by Sapkota:

“There was a viral video that was posted of a shed on fire. We don’t know that that shed started the fire or whether it was secondary,” said Pelle.

When a local reporter inquired if Boulder’s Twelve Tribes property was involved in the Marshall fire investigation, Sheriff Pelle confirmed that, “it is, and it will be and that’s widely known and understood. So is the area around it.”

Pelle continued to disclose more specifics about the search warrant for the Twelve Tribes property and the neighborhood surrounding the sect’s compound.

“It’s an open investigation,” said Pelle. “​​We’re going to do it right, it’s gonna take some time. You’re gonna lose your patience. We’re going to get the right people with the right expertise. The snow is going to melt. We’re going to take our time and be methodical because the stakes are huge.”

The Community in Boulder

The Twelve Tribes community lies on the outskirts of Boulder, right in the University of Colorado Boulder’s backyard. Located at 5325 Eldorado Springs Drive, the compound consists of multiple buildings, each of which has a designated purpose within the community. Excavation equipment lies near the garden facing the Flatirons.

Back in 2019, Twelve Tribes and its affiliated restaurant on Pearl Street, the Yellow Deli, were at the center of a CU Independent investigation.

Since then, the pandemic has taken a colossal toll on the Twelve Tribes.

Members are leaving rapidly and en masse. Four members who preferred to remain anonymous to avoid reprisal in their respective communities confirmed this.

“As soon as Gene Spriggs or Yoneq died of COVID, the influx of members started to dwindle. Powerful members are becoming more and more reclusive,” said John, an ex-member who agreed to speak to the CUI without the publication of his last name.

John was jostled from community to community as a child, recalling that he was often confused about where his true home was. The most prevalent memory of one was in Hiddenite, North Carolina– the training center for future and current tribal leaders.

The Twelve Tribes holds nationwide conferences at this location. John and another ex-member who prefers to remain anonymous resided in Hiddenite around the time Gene Spriggs became incredibly ill and was being housed there.

Their beliefs can be found on their website. They rely heavily on the Book of Revelations and prophesize that,

“The apocalypse has already begun and in 50 years they’ll raise 144,000 male virgins who will bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ or Yahshua as we more commonly call him,” said John.

The Community in Boulder declined to comment to the CUI on whether or not they were responsible for starting the Marshall Fire. They instead referred reporters to BCSO.

The CUI requested a comment from BCSO but they stated that commenting to the press at this point in the investigation would not be in the public’s best interest.

However, the Records Manager for BCSO, Rosemary Horton, released all previous calls to service at 5325 Eldorado Springs Drive before Dec. 30.

Calls to Service at 5325 Eldorado Springs Drive

Dec. 30 isn’t the first time a fire was reported on the Twelve Tribes property.

According to the CAD police log, there were twelve calls to service for controlled burns and 13 fire-related incidents between January 26, 2018, and December 29, 2021.

A familiar face to CUI reporters, Joseph Fisher, who is also known as Dayag in the Twelve Tribes community, placed these calls to BCSO’s emergency dispatch throughout the years. Additionally, there were 4 calls to service for ‘child issues’, 2 calls for trespassing, 2 medical calls and a number of other miscellaneous calls to service for welfare checks, and noise complaints.

Fisher declined to comment on the twelve controlled burns he reported to BCSO dispatch. The CUI sent multiple requests for comment via phone and email.

Fire Management Officer for BCSO, Seth Mckinney, noted that controlled burns do not occur too often. In attempts to mimic the natural and historical fire regime, that means a controlled burn should take place in the Front Range once every 7 to 10 years.

“A resident can burn 49 piles under safe conditions before needing a smoke permit. If an individual were conducting a pile burn and it got out of hand, we would want them to call 911,” said Mckinney.

He also confirmed that controlled burns should not be reported to emergency dispatch unless the fire needs to be contained by law enforcement.

Regardless of past allegations against the Twelve Tribes, Pelle advised that the public should avoid jumping to conclusions regarding the fires’ origins since,

“The investigation is still in the early stages and could take weeks, possibly months longer,” said Pelle.

BCSO sent out a press release on March 31 about the Marshall Fire investigation and its projected timeline.

Although the sheriff’s office declined to share specific information, they broadly mentioned why the investigation will be a lengthy process:

“We’ve been reviewing nearly 200 tips from the community, multiple search warrants for physical and digital property, reviewing hundreds of videos and photos, interviewing hundreds of victims and witnesses, and reviewing countless 911 calls,” they said.

At the moment, there are two possible ignition points being considered– the Community in Boulder and the Marshall Mesa trailhead which is upwind from the compound. The area near the Marshall Mesa trailhead lies above an underground coal mine and alongside Xcel power lines that lie adjacent to Highway 93.

Court proceedings and the investigation has been hindered by a class-action lawsuit.

Local law enforcement has yet to confirm the cause and origin of the fire. The Marshall Fire investigation is still ongoing, and for now, no conclusion has been made.

The search warrant for 5325 Eldorado Springs Drive is still active. 

Damages from the Marshall and Middle Fork fires are seen within a residential area Dec. 31, 2021. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Colie Dorfman at nicole.dorfman@colorado.edu.

• Carol McKinley
• Jan 5, 2022 Updated Feb 8, 2022

Neighbors at ground zero of Colorado’s most devastating wildfire traded stories of urgency, confusion, helplessness and anger as Old Marshall Road opened to the public for the first time Wednesday.

Bob Gabriella, whose family was the first to build on the historic rural street in 1865, said he saw a wisp of smoke coming from the Twelve Tribes property on Dec. 30 at around 9 a.m. “The wind was blowing pretty hard. I was scared. I told my wife to get the suitcases,” he told The Gazette as he surveyed the grey, ashy outline of what used to be two vintage motorcyles. “That one is a 1936 Harley my dad used to ride,” he said.

He didn’t have time to save the vintage cycles as the barn which everyone on the block compares to a museum went up in a hideous ball of flame. Three fire extinguishers hung from a bucket on a charred tractor in the yard: two of them are red and one is burned up. “I used them all up trying to save this barn. I sometimes hang stuff there for people to see,” he said. On Sundays, neighbors say, scores of weekend bicycle riders use the eclectic road as a byway for their weekend journeys because they loved to look at the old buildings. A white concrete structure which served as a brothel for miners was luckier than the  barn.

A survey of neighbors scoping out the damage on their block gave the same approximate time for the moment they noticed the fire on Dec. 30. Some smelled smoke before they saw it, at around 9 a.m.

A woman named Brie, who asked not to give out her last name, told The Gazette that her sister was driving by the compound at Highway 93 and Marshall Road at around 11 a.m. and texted that it looked like there was a bonfire on the Twelve Tribes property.

A half-hour or so earlier, people at the Sans Souci Trailer Park across Highway 93 saw billowing smoke coming from the Twelve Tribes’ land. Ryan Davis, who says he keeps an eye on the area as a rule, decided to walk his dog toward the fire sometime in the middle of the morning. He said that a shed at the back of the five-acre compound was burning from the outside and that at that time the roof was intact. “Something made the shed catch fire and it was burning but no one seemed to notice. There was no one up there. No fire trucks.”

Mike Zoltkowski, who lives nearby and took video of the burning shed as the winds were kicking up said that he saw the first fire trucks arrive to block the roads at around 11:15 a.m. By 11:45 a.m., he witnessed the shed engulfed in flames and saw three people huddled around a truck. One of the men had separated his shoulder and the other two were helping him get to safety. He asked what was going on and he said they told him that one of their buildings had caught fire, and that “everything was under control,” remembers Zoltkowski. “It sure didn’t look under control to me.”

Still another neighbor who wished only to be identified as June because of the sensitive nature of the investigation, told The Gazette that there’s a fire pit on the Twelve Tribes property that is often burning and at times, it would spit embers into the air which wafted to her yard. “I’ve called the sheriffs on this issue for a year and they kept telling me that there was nothing they could do,” said June.

She said she was so furious about the “on and off burning in the fire pit” that she once walked over to the property to ask the people who live there to put the fire out. “They told me that they could do whatever they want to on their land. When I told the sheriffs, they agreed.”  June said that she often saw people on the compound burning something in the fire pit. “They have a front-end loader and they’d scrape their crap or whatever they’re burning together and put it into this pit.” She said that there have been nights that she could see the orange flames from the fire pit lighting up the darkness.

Was there anyone tending the fire during those nighttime sightings? She shrugged her shoulders. “I am going to give the sheriff some time to sort this out and if he doesn’t I told him I’m going to the media,” she said.

June said that at 4 p.m. on Dec. 30, the front end loader was furiously dumping dirt on the fire pit to try and put the fire there out. She called the fire department who she reports told her that the fire truck had run out of water.

A time log on the Mountain View Fire Department website shows exact times and locations of what one of its firetrucks was working on in the area of Marshall Road and Highway 93 on the morning of Dec. 30.

“At 11:39, Louisville Battalion 2760 arrived and assumed Marshall Command, requesting additional resources from the City of Boulder. Command advised of a shed on fire north of the Park-n-Ride and requested next due united to respond there,” reported the log.

There are varying accounts as to whether Dec. 30 carried a Red Flag warning. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle has said publicly that there was a Red Flag warning; but the Boulder Regional National Weather Service office told The Gazette that at 3 am on Dec. 30 the Denver/ Boulder office declared a high wind warning for unincorporated Boulder County which carries with it a ban on fires. The regional NWS office did not call for an actual Red Flag warning for Dec. 30 because though the winds were high and the fuels were cured and dry, a third element required for the Red Flag classification, humidity levels, were not lower than the 15% threshold. “Humidities that day were at 20-25%,” Meteorologist-in-Charge Jennifer Stark. “It was absolutely not okay to burn any fires that day. Anyone who lives in Colorado knows how dry it has been in the fall and winter.”

According to the Boulder County’s website, “During any of the following weather events, open burning is not allowed in unincorporated Boulder County from time of issuance until midnight in which the event expires: Red Flag Warning, High Wind Warning, High Wind Watch, Fire Danger Warning, and Fire Weather Watch.” It then advises residents that it is critical for visitors and residents to do anything they can to prevent fires.

Pelle has said in press conferences that the neighborhood at Marshall Road and Highway 93 is at the center of the investigation. Numerous requests to the Boulder County Sheriffs for records of the number of times deputies were called to the property was denied by authorities citing that this is an ongoing investigation.

National Weather Service reports that winds were gusting from 81 miles per hour in South Boulder and up to 99 miles per hour at Highway 93 and 72, which is within a mile of the Twelve Tribes property. By noon, that spot had a peak gust of 115 miles per hour. Those strong winds shifted east toward all of Superior and most of Louisville between 12:30 and 2 p.m. The winds started calming down “through the afternoon and late evening hours, but unfortunately, much of the destruction had been done,” according to the NWS Boulder website.

On Old Marshall Road, Jeff Giddings was watching as firefighters across the street sprayed water on the first casualty of the 2021 Marshall Fire. “We don’t have hoses here. We are on a well. The trucks were running out of water,” said Giddings. The flames so red hot, his face hurt. At 4:30 p.m., firefighters had to give up.

“That’s when we realized we might not make it, said Giddings. “We grabbed our computers and some papers and got out of there, but we figured our house would be gone when we got back.” His house, which used to be a gas station, was spared.

He remembers that once the fire was out, and homes were smoldering, his neighbors came over to borrow a shovel. “I thought they wanted to put out the embers. But they needed help burying their dog.” Giddings showed a reporter a charred limb sticking out of the black dirt. Behind it was a statue of cherub. “It was a little black mutt…some kind of lab I think,” said Giddings as he walked past melted metal doors and patio furniture.

Tuesday afternoon, a home assessor from American Family Insurance was questioning residents, an Excel truck was working on gas meters and crews on ladders assessed power lines. Dozens of law enforcement vehicles parked on the perimeter of the Twelve Tribes property including the Boulder Police Department bomb squad van, several fire K-9 trucks, and Boulder County Sheriffs vehicles. Investigators blocked off an adjacent dirt road and new fences protected structures which dot the inside, most of which were still standing. A group of law enforcement vehicles surrounded the shed on the western edge of the property which has been shown in videos taken by residents and gone viral.

Bob Gabriella cries at strange times when a moment hits him, like when he realizes the stucco home his family built on Old Marshall Road is still standing. Out front is the restored Studebaker he saved.

“See that car? My wife and I dated in it.”

He said the car his dad took his mom out in for their first date is in the garage. He was able to get those treasures out of the fire as it raged around him the afternoon of Dec. 30.

Bob Gabriella knows that neighbors are talking about the Twelve Tribes fire pit; but he has a different view.

“They have been excellent neighbors,” he said, explaining that they saved one of his rental homes from a swarm of invasive bees. “They took the bees and the hive away and brought me back a candle,” he said, adding that children from the compound “march up and down the street.”

He pointed to a bench on his now-ruined property where they like to sit.

As the sun set and snow fell Wednesday evening, the investigators had gone but sheriff’s vehicles were still stationed on the corners of the empty Twelve Tribes property.

Source of article: The Epoch Times.com

Source of FBI records: FBI.gov

FBI records on Twelve Tribes in PDF file you can view and download: FBI files Twelve Tribes Part 01 of 01

June 28, 2019 Updated: June 30, 2019

The FBI released redacted documents this week on the cult community known as the “Twelve Tribes,” revealing numerous allegations against the group, including child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, ritual abuse, and forced labor.

The 61-page document—released by the bureau’s Vault library on June 25—included separate complaints detailing the alleged crimes, mostly against children. The cult has communes all over the United States, including Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Florida, California, Tennessee, and more.

In 2013, a preliminary investigation was conducted by the FBI, based on a complaint the bureau received from the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina that children were being “sexually exploited” at a Twelve Tribes compound in the town of Hiddenite. The case was closed the same year.

Twelve Tribes has communes around the world, with the Hiddenite location being one of its training centers.

Documents showed that drugs were used at the commune and placed into “ritual” bread—usually LSD and hallucinogenic plants, as well as heroin and meth. There were also ritual ceremonies once a month that involved the bread being broken and gang rapes.

Punishment within the cult involved being beaten with a rod and having the wife or children of the accused being sexually assaulted by other cult members. The sheriff’s office had been aware of the Hiddenite location since 2006 and that much of the land in the area was owned by the cult, since families who joined had to turn over their property.

Members of the Hiddenite compound also allegedly were forced to go to a location and work all night and day for “three straight days,” in what was known as a “push” that involved three or six members. Those working were allowed to drink coffee that may have had something added to it to keep them awake.

In a prior complaint included in the released documents, a name that was redacted had contacted the public access line to report child sexual abuse in a Twelve Tribes commune located in Manitou Springs, Colorado. The person had said children were threatened not to tell the police or anyone else about the beatings or sexual abuse, and that the cult ran a restaurant in the area.

Yet another document, one from 2010, detailed how a former member was allegedly sexually and physically abused by cult members as a child but had repressed the memories. In 2009, the former member had seen a psychologist, who reported the abuse to local authorities, and had also contacted national leaders of the cult to inform them of her abuse. The former member also attended personal meetings with the cult leaders.

After a meeting on a date that was redacted, the former member was killed in a car crash that “was not accidental” and was allegedly “orchestrated” by cult members to prevent the woman from “propagating the claims of abuse.”

In the Twelve Tribe cult, members were also “allowed to punish any child belonging to the community.” The FBI document detailed how members would take their children to be “wooped,” meaning beaten, if they smiled at another child during a gathering, or if they were “horsing” around.

“Bigger children have missed ‘gathering’ for a couple of days at a time because they were beaten so badly and left in a condition where they could not attend,” the documents said, based on an interview with an FBI agent.

One former member said that they were once “locked in a cellar, beaten, and deprived of food.”

The release of the FBI documents came days after Keith Raniere, the former leader of purported self-help organization NXIVM was found guilty on all charges at a Brooklyn federal court on June 19.

NXIVM Collapse

A federal jury, made up of eight men and four women, deliberated for less than five hours before finding Raniere guilty of all 7 criminal counts including sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, and racketeering.

Raniere listened attentively but showed no visible reaction as he learned the verdict. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 25.

The accusations against Raniere center around a secret society within the group—which he allegedly created in 2015—named DOS, an acronym for the Latin “dominus obsequious sororium,” loosely translated as “master of the slave women.”

Prosecutors say Raniere was the “highest master” of DOS and forced other members—all women—to have sex with him. Many of the DOS members were branded with a cauterizing pen while naked and being filmed.

Days ago, during closing arguments in the high-profile trial, assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza alluded to the prosecution’s May 7 opening statements, telling the jury that Raniere was chiefly after “sex, money, power.”

Penza brought up the testimony of former NXIVM members, including one identified by prosecutors as “Daniela,” who had spoken about being locked up in a room for nearly two years after Raniere found out she had kissed another man. Another member, identified as Sylvie, testified about being forced into a sex act with the leader. Another, a senior board member, detailed Raniere’s manipulation and fraud.

The verdict comes after a 7-week long trial. Raniere could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Follow Bowen on Twitter: @BowenXiao3

06/07/2018

Bei den Zwölf Stämmen in Klosterzimmern ist es immer wieder zu Gewalt gegen Kinder gekommen, wie in diversen Gerichtsverfahren festgestellt wurde. Foto: Jan Kandzora

Ein Mann soll zwei Buben teils mehrfach nach den Vorstellungen der Zwölf Stämme gezüchtigt haben. Der Verteidiger bezweifelt, dass deren Aussagen glaubwürdig sind.

Von Verena Mörzl

Es ist nun wohl schon das 15. vergleichbare Verfahren dieser Art, womöglich auch eines der letzten. Doch den schauderhaften Charakter haben die Verhandlungen gegen Mitglieder der Glaubensgemeinschaft Zwölf Stämme nicht verloren. Einige von ihnen, die bis 2016 noch auf dem Gutshof in Klosterzimmern gelebt haben, sind in eine Gemeinschaft nach Tschechien gezogen. Dem Vernehmen nach sollen ihre Züchtigungen dort nicht wie in Deutschland bestraft werden. In den USA berichten lokale Medien aktuell über mutmaßliche Kinderarbeit auf einer Farm nahe der Stadt Cambridge in Washington County, New York, die von den Zwölf Stämmen betrieben wird. Die Sekte selbst bestreitet die Kinderarbeit.

Vor dem Nördlinger Amtsgericht fand gestern das Verfahren statt, das eigentlich schon für Januar 2017 angesetzt war. Die Staatsanwaltschaft wirft einem 52-Jährigen gefährliche Körperverletzung sowie Misshandlung von Schutzbefohlenen vor. 2012 und 2013 soll er mit Ruten zwei Buben geschlagen haben, einen mehrmals. In einem Video zeigt der Vorsitzende Richter des Jugendschöffengerichts, Gerhard Schamann, die Vernehmung der zu dieser Zeit Zehn- und Elfjährigen. Der Jüngere berichtet, dass er auf dem Gutshof in Klosterzimmern bestraft wurde, weil ihm das Essen nicht schmeckte. Zuerst habe die Mutter zugeschlagen, weil er danach noch immer nicht aß, auch die Lehrerin, die bereits zu einer Haftstrafe verurteilt wurde. Als er auch dann nicht essen wollte, holten sie den Angeklagten und gingen mit dem Jungen in den „Schlagkeller“, wie er ihn bezeichnet. Der Bub erinnert sich in dem Video, dass die Frauen ihn fixierten, sodass der Mann ihn schlagen konnte.

Das andere Kind erzählt, dass es mit einer Rute gezüchtigt wurde, wenn es sich in Wörnitz (auch hier lebten Mitglieder) nicht so verhalten habe, wie es der Angeklagte wünschte. Über eine Tränke gebeugt soll er auf einer Wiese auf den Hintern geschlagen worden sein. Wie der Bub sagt, ein ganzes Frühjahr lang jedes Wochenende bis hin zum Sommer. „Wenn ich nicht gefolgt hab’ oder Schafe gestreichelt habe, obwohl ich nicht durfte, oder durch eine Pfütze mit Gummistiefel gestampft bin, dann hat er das ’töricht’ genannt und mich geschlagen, so zehn bis zwanzig Mal.“ Er zählt die Wunden auf bis hin zu Blutungen und sagt zur Richterin, die damals mit ihm sprach: „Es gab keinen einzigen Tag, seitdem ich mich erinnern kann, an dem ich nicht schlecht geträumt habe oder Angst hatte oder nicht geschlagen wurde.“ Er habe sich nach seiner Arbeit, dem Trocknen von Solarpaneelen, nicht ablenken dürfen, wenn es ihm nicht erlaubt wurde.

Vor Gericht bestreitet der angeklagte 52-Jährige seine Taten. Er behauptet, dass die Fantasie der Buben angeregt wurde. Er sei zum Prozess gekommen, weil er „das Ganze aus der Welt haben wolle“. Er habe den Elfjährigen nur einmal mit zu den Schafen genommen und da habe es keine Züchtigung gegeben. Das sei außerdem an einem anderen Ort gewesen.

Der Angeklagte selbst ist in Rumänien aufgewachsen, auf eine deutsche Schule gegangen. „Meine Eltern haben mich auch gezüchtigt, aber mein Vater ist nie zornig geworden“, erzählt das Zwölf-Stämme-Mitglied und beschreibt, dass auch bei ihm ein Gürtel laut geschnalzt hätte. „Ich habe Respekt, dass er (sein Vater) etwas tut, wenn ich etwas mit einem Stein kaputtgemacht habe. (…) Ich habe den besten Vater gehabt und wünsche mir, dass das meine Kinder auch sagen können.“

Verteidiger Hans-Walter Forkel sieht Widersprüche in den Aussagen der Opfer und behauptet, dass der Angeklagte während der Zeit, in der die Schläge erfolgt sein sollen, nicht in Klosterzimmern gewesen sei. Außerdem lägen keine Qualen vor. Er plädiert auf Freispruch.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft sieht das deutlich anders und fordert zwei Jahre Haft ohne Bewährung, weil der Angeklagte keine Reue zeigt und kein Geständnis ablegt. Staatsanwältin Irmina Palczynksa sieht den Sachverhalt als bestätigt. Zu seelischen Qualen zählt ihr zufolge durchaus, wenn man in den „Schlagkeller“ gebracht werde und Extraschläge erhält, sobald man gezuckt oder geweint hat.

Richter Gerhard Schamann stützt sich auf die Ausführungen der Staatsanwältin und verurteilt den Angeklagten zu einer Gefängnisstrafe von 15 Monaten. Die Aussagen der Kinder seien nach seiner Auffassung glaubwürdig. Beim Zehnjährigen handle es sich um gefährliche Körperverletzung, weil drei Personen involviert waren. Im Fall des anderen Kindes liege einfache Körperverletzung und die Misshandlung von Schutzbefohlenen in zwölf Fällen vor.

Inside Edition first exposed potential child workers at Cambridge cosmetics factory

by Karen Tararache, June 06, 2018 06:46 AM

“If I explain to you what it’s like to watch a diaper get pulled off of a six month old baby so that it can be beaten with a rod until it’s welts, it’s covered in welts and bruises,” Shuah Jones explained.

Jones was 15 years old when she escaped the Twelve Tribes in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Her father is one of the three founders of the controversial religious sect where she describes children being force fed caffeine stimulants in order to work long hours through the night in a factory packaging beauty products.

“I was six or seven years old and I was sitting on a stool because I couldn’t reach the factory line and I remember the giant vats,” she said.

Tuesday, the Department of Labor issued multiple violations involving twelve minors at work at the “Common Sense Farm” in Cambridge.

Jones says it’s not the first time the Twelve Tribes has been caught or fined. It has just made them smarter at evading authorities.

“We used to run fire drills with the children to teach them how to all line up single file and get out the back door and we had certain systems in place to alert each other across the building.”

Jones hopes that by speaking out she can save the children, including her niece that continues to be physically and sexually abused, even today.

“If nothing happens from this investigation I’ve hurt the children that are currently working there.”

A member of the community in Cambridge issued a statement, calling themselves “law-abiding citizens,” addressing the undercover Inside Edition video as occasional visits by children to spend time with their parents and that likening that to child labor is “sadly inaccurate.”

Jones suffers from severe PTSD and is working on getting her degree in cognitive psychology, with the goal of educating non-violent parenting to other people.

“We call those the exit wounds, because instead of reporting it to the police, my parents chose the commune over me,” Jones said.

The Department of Labor says the most recent investigation could result in fines in the tens of thousands of dollars.

But Jones says it’s not enough. She explains, the Twelve Tribes is able to escape prosecution because when they’re caught they pay the fines and move across state lines, relying on the fact that agencies rarely share information with other state departments.