Twelve Tribes elder to be sentenced for sexually abusing 2 girls

A Plymouth man who was found guilty on 25 different indictments of sexual abuse in September will be sentenced in Fall River Superior Court Wednesday at 2 pm, officials said.

Nehemya Smith, 37, is expected to face decades in prison for sexually abusing two girls in Raynham, Hyannis and Milton, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III said in a statement.

Smith was found guilty on all 25 indictments on Sept. 3, the statement said. The indictments include 12 counts of aggravated rape of a child, eight counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, four counts of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14 and one count of rape.

Smith was an “elder” with the Twelve Tribes, an international religious group with several locations in New England, prosecutors said. Members of the Twelve Tribes give up their possessions and live communally.

The girls were still living with their parents in the tribe when police were notified, prosecutors said. In both cases, the siblings of the two girls told police once they knew about the abuse, prosecutors said. The siblings had already left the tribe.

The two girls were abused between 2016 and 2020, prosecutors added. One girl was abused when she was between 14 and 16 years old and another girl was abused when she was between 12 and 15 years old.

The district attorney said the Barnstable and Norfolk County incidents were transferred to Bristol County so that all the cases could be tried together.