Secretive Christian sect under FBI probe is 'perfect grounds for pedophiles': ex-member
A secret Christian church with global reach is at the center of an FBI investigation.
The religious group goes by multiple names, and as child sex abuse allegations aimed at the church continue to come to light, we are learning more about the organization.
Church elder already sentenced to prison
Dig deeper:
"Tempe Police! Search warrant! Come to the door with nothing in your hands!" officers were heard in a body camera video.
The video was taken on the morning of Sept. 6, 2022, as the Tempe officers wait for Raymond Zwiefelhofer. The video captures Zwiefelhofer's reaction to the swarm of police, signaling the start of his downfall.
"Holy mackerel," he exclaims.
Timeline:
Zwiefelhofer's rise accelerated in 2009 when he became CEO of World Software Corporation. The company, also known as Worldox, is a software tech company specializing in managing legal documents.
"I think it was just interesting from the beginning that he had such a high, I want to say, position of power, but just he was so high up in this company," said Deputy County Attorney Catherine Fu with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office's Sex Crimes Bureau. She was tasked with building the case against Zweifelhofer.
Zwifelhofer was charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, after a tip from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children alerted police to child sex abuse material (CSAM) uploaded by a suspect with IP addresses at Worldox and Zwiefelhofer’s home.
A search warrant served three months before his arrest led to the seizure of multiple electronic devices, including a microSD card which contained child sex abuse material.
"In total, all 87 files depicted children under the age of 15 engaged in either exploitative exhibition or sexual conduct," said Fu.
Zwiefelhofer's defense was that he was unaware of the CSAM found on his device, which depicted minors under the age of 15 involved in sexual conduct. Fu, however, said the entire operating system on Zwiefelhofer's laptop was deleted before Tempe Police executed a search warrant at his home.
"If there were additional artifacts of child sexual abuse material, it may have been deleted and not recoverable based upon the entire system actually being deleted and reinstalled," she said.
By November 2024, Zwiefelhofer was sentenced to 120 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of all 10 charges.
"I was just going to say I’m not guilty. Again, I’d like to make that clear. I would love to know how the jury found that I knowingly did this. That’s all I’d like to say," Zwiefelhofer said during his sentencing.
Zwiefelhofer is serving his sentence at the Eyman Prison in Tucson. We’ve reached out to his attorney for comment, but they have yet to respond.
"Do you think [Zwiefelhofer] was someone that thought he could get away with all of this?" we asked Fu.
"I think the evidence showing that the entire system - Windows system - had previously been deleted, evidence showing that there was an encryption key, I think, I would say that all of that evidence together is indicative of someone who was trying to cover their tracks," Fu replied. "Someone with that kind of knowledge might think that they could continue to successfully cover their tracks."
Sources confirm Zwiefelhofer's ties to the church
Big picture view:
We spoke to multiple sources with ties to the Christian sect that is now accused of allowing widespread child sex abuse and coverups known under the monikers of the "Two by Two Church", "The Way", "The Truth" and "The Church with No Name."
The church has no clear doctrine, but members read the King James Bible and use the Book of Hymns, old and new.
Sources within the church confirm that Zwiefelhofer was a member. Specifically, they say he was an "elder."
We want to be clear that Zwiefelhofer's crimes did not involve members of the church.
Sect's structure revealed
Sarah Black
Sarah Black lives in the East Valley but grew up in Portland, Oregon, going to weekly gospel meetings linked to the Two by Twos.
What She's Saying:
"Well, it's a system that is very legalistic, lots of unwritten, manmade rules," Black said. "I grew up without a TV. Most homes didn't even have a radio. I was with progressive parents, so I had a radio. I was also in a very musical home. So, my family, you know, we were a little more different. But I watched my friends not be able to do certain things, like participate in band activities at school."
Black, whose parents also left the church, describes the Christian sect as well-hidden, with an established hierarchy that involves people who are known as "Overseers" at the top, followed by ministers called "Workers," and then "Elders." The rest of the church members known as "Friends."
"All the importance is on what these workers speak in these meetings," Black said. "The doctrine becomes whatever you hear every week, there is no one set doctrine like some churches would have."
Cynthia Liles, who is a private investigator specializing in child sex abuse cases, has worked with the FBI on exposing allegations linked to the Two by Two church. The religious group originated in Ireland in the late 19th century.
"Ministers go out, two by two. They go out in pairs and they don’t have homes. They stay in the members’ homes, so the access to children is readily available, sometimes in the same bedrooms as the children," she said.
"You have to clean the house, and have it the most clean you can get it," said Black. "My brother and I would be kicked out of our rooms, and we would sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag at my parents’ room so that the workers could come and stay two or three nights."
"Workers" rely on members’ hospitality for housing and food, traveling with assigned partners of the same sex, denying formal religious training. They aren’t allowed to marry either.
Overseers supervise the region or territory of church members, making sure workers are taken care of.
"Elders" host weekly meetings in their homes for "Workers" to teach the gospel.
"For us, it was normal for them to kind of stay with us for a few days at a time when they were in our, what we call ‘field,’" said Pam Walton.
Walton is a former member who now lives in Hawaii. She was raised in the church and now collects documents and photos – tracking a timeline of alleged predators.
"Everyone in the church is either related to someone in it or they know someone in it, so it’s a very tight-knit community," she said.
PI denounces sect as a cult; sex abuse survivors group receiving more allegations
Liles believes the church shows patterns of being a cult.
"It’s definitely fear-based and the fear-based culture has compounded the child sex abuse cases," said Liles. "There’s a component of spiritual abuse on top of that."
Advocates for the Truth (AFFT) is a non-profit organization that provides help for sexual abuse survivors in the Two by Two church. People with the group say more than 2,000 victims have reported more than 900 alleged perpetrators to its hotline for abuse as of June 2024.
"The main philosophy of the church is that it’s the only true way to heaven, and that really complicates child sex abuse cases and sex assault cases because survivors are fearful they will lose out on salvation if they report," said Liles.
Liles shared an important letter from 2005 that was written by a former Overseer in Arizona. In the letter, the person addressed a fellow member’s history of alleged child molestation.
What The Ex-Overseer Wrote:
"You can understand that we love our people very much and don’t want to report their misdeeds to the authorities, so the way we have usually complied with the law is by asking the offender to see a professional counselor."
"This has been a church that had just been perfect grounds for pedophiles to be at, be in, be with, because they have had unprecedented access to children," said Black.
Sect has long ties with Arizona
The church has an estimated 175,000 members across the world, and connections to Arizona date back to Glendale in the 1920s.
"Sometimes, you would get a paper list. If you were an ‘Elder’ in a meeting, you might be emailed a list. But oftentimes you were told to just hand out the information or tell the information verbally, depending on what the communication was," said one of its former members.
The former member does not want to be identified due to family members who are still affiliated with the church, but he says those who have left are relieved the FBI is investigating.
"People on the outside, I think, are pretty excited that something will finally happen. People inside are still in denial, thinking that nothing's going to happen," he said.
We wanted to see what a gospel meeting was like in person, and a member who invited us said the gatherings were public, and a meeting was going to be held at Thunderbird High School in Phoenix.
Around 100 to 200 people walk in, many families with their Bibles and Books of Hymns. For about an hour, the group sang and prayed in a cafeteria.
A worker who spoke with us off-camera said he was initially shocked at the FBI's investigation. He also said he was hurt by the allegations, and said the church really had to look within and figure out how to prevent any abuse from happening.
Glendale Union High School District responds
We reached out to the Glendale Union High School District to see if officials were aware of the religious meetings held at Thunderbird High.
A spokesperson said the school has not leased facilities to any organization operating under the names "Two by Two" or "The Truth," but we obtained the lease agreement for Nate Galuza to rent the cafeteria for worship services during the month of January, costing $600 for a total of eight hours. The dates listed included the day that we were there to observe the meeting.
The district says users must comply with federal, state and local laws, and goes on to say the following:
"Our district remains deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community. It is also important to emphasize that students were not present on campus during the time of this facility rental. Moving forward, we will continue to thoroughly review all facility use requests, just as we have always done."
What you can do:
The FBI says its Omaha Field Office is seeking the public's help for help in "identifying victims or individuals with knowledge of abuse and/or criminal behavior that has occurred" within the group.
If you have any information or believe your child or children have been victimized by anyone affiliated with the church - here is the FBI's questionnaire.