What is the Twelve Tribes? Experts share insights

Plymouth, Massachusetts — On Main Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts, you wouldn't know from the outside but members of a controversial religious organization run several businesses including The Yellow Deli.

When you walk in, there's dozens of free pamphlets, inviting customers to learn more and join their organization.

The pamphlets refer to their way of life as a "radical movement."

They invite people to join their tightknit community where everyone lives, works and prays together.

Experts say the group is a cult.

"It's a group that I'm very familiar with as an authoritarian cult," Dr. Steven Hassan [See Cult Education Institute disclaimer concerning Steven Hassan] from the Freedom of Mind Resource Center said.

Hassan is a former member of a different cult who now researches these types of organizations.

"With authoritarian cults, there's often a top leader who's the Messiah, the Prophet, the apostle, the dictator, and they control people's behavior, information, thinking and emotions," he said.

Members typically give up personal possession and work for the tribe.

The Twelve Tribes have communities and The Yellow Deli restaurants in 16 states and 10 countries.

"They're basically working for nothing more than room and board. If they leave the group, they have nothing," Rick Ross of the Cult Education Institute said.

Ross has worked directly with former members of the Twelve Tribes.

"One of them had been sexually molested by an adult member of the group," he said. "This was when he was about 10 years old, and he tried to bring it to the attention of people in the group, and he was punished and locked in a closet."

He said there are likely more unreported instances

In 2018 , the European Court of Human Rights upheld a German court's decision to take children away from The Twelve Tribes.

The court ruled they used institutionalized violence against minors.

The group then left Germany.

"The problem with Twelve Tribes is that when they become aware of problems like this, they want to hide it," Ross said. "They don't want to report it to the authorities. They're more concerned about the group and protecting the group than they are about minor children," [Ross] said.

NBC 10 News hasn't been able to get in contact with any of the group's leaders.

A person who answered the phone for their Plymouth Community said they had no comment.

The Yellow Deli's website disputes concerns about the organization but doesn't mention The Twelve Tribes.

"Sadly, fear of evil or perverse behavior going on among us has caused some to circulate unfounded rumors about us, thinking we must have bad motives. We hope that through having an open and hospitable place like our Yellow Deli, people will be able to see that we are not really strange and scary, but just friendly folks who love God and our neighbors," the website said.