Yellow Deli restaurant linked to organization accused of child abuse, CUI investigation finds

You know your favorite late-night sandwich spot, the Yellow Deli? It’s tied to an organization with a deep history of physically abusing children and religious fundamentalism, a nine-month CU Independent investigation has found.

Yellow Deli, the all-day, all-night Boulder cafe frequented by students has been open about its evangelist roots, but behind the cheap sandwiches and free Wi-Fi is a darker history. The CUI investigation is based on interviews with 12 ex-members of Twelve Tribes, a religious organization linked to the restaurant, and reviews of over 400 pages of  Twelve Tribes documents obtained both publicly and through sources. 
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Six ex-members of Twelve Tribes told the CUI they were witnesses or victims of child abuse in Twelve Tribes locations around the globe. Others described intense control exerted by the group on its members. 

“Childhood was hell,” said Alex, an ex-member who agreed to talk with the CUI without the publication of his last name. At a Twelve Tribes compound in Cambridge, New York, he described being beaten bloody sometimes to the point of collapsing. 
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The author of the teachings is the Twelve Tribes founder, Gene Spriggs. He founded the group as a small Christian community in Chattanooga, Tennessee, preaching in his home and baptizing people in the lake behind his house. Spriggs started a group in 1972 that would become the Twelve Tribes and opened the first Yellow Deli to support the group soon after. The group is commonly cited as having between 2,000-3,000 members. Since its founding, the tribes have faced accusations of being a cult and spouting fundamentalist ideology.


Yellow Deli restaurant linked to organization accused of child abuse, CUI investigation finds

See also::  Inside the CUI’s investigation of the Yellow Deli that uncovered its connection to cult-like behavior and child abuse