sink and rise sink and rise again ♪ ♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, secrets of the 2 by 2 church, the christian sect so secretive, most people have never heard of it. >> why do you say the 2 by 2

church has a sexual abuse problem? >> i'm a victim of it. >> our year-long investigation. former members telling us that shroud of secrecy hides allegations of abuse. >> all these institutions think they're above the law because god is on their side. >> why even the fbi is involved. >> sources tell us they've given you 800 names of perpetrators. >> and what happens when we track down an accused perpetrator for answers. did you sexual abuse siriachi when she was 14 and you were 28? radical transformation. turning the incarcerated into substance abuse counselors. >> we want to give you tools to deal with the hurt and pain and trouble. >> flipping the script on the prison stereotype and the tough conversation one man faced on the road to healing. >> at one point, you encounter the victim's nephew? >> he said, "i want to talk to you for a minute." and 23 sets of twins graduating from one massachusetts middle school.

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♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. i'm elizabeth schulze. the 2 by 2 church has been around decades, yet many americans have never heard of it. some former members say that secrecy helped the sexual abuse

they endured there go unchecked. our year-long investigation pulling back the curtain. here's abc's kyra philips. we warn you, some of this material is disturbing. >> there is a price to be paid every time a survivor shares their story. >> reporter: then why are you going to share this with me? >> if my sharing my story helps one child, just one child anywhere, from being sexually abused, i'm willing to tell my story. >> reporter: sherry autrey says she is a survivor of child sexual abuse. born and raised in the secretive christian sect known by outsiders as the 2 by 2 church. ♪ the 2 by 2 religion is so discreetive, most people haven't even heard of it. ministers of the church, known as workers, travel in pairs within their designated areas. most of their belongings

confined to just a suitcase. living together in members' homes. usually for a few days at a time. why do yaw say the 2 by 2 church has a sexual abuse problem? >> i'm a victim of it. >> reporter: is the 2 by 2 church breeding ground for pedophiles? >> it is the perfect environment for pedophiles. >> reporter: sherry's story is not unique. we've been investigation this secretive sect for a year, speaking to dozens of alleged victims of child sexual abuse across more than 30 states. a lot of the ex-members we spoke to say that some of the church leadership knew about the abuse allegations but didn't report any of it to the authorities. rather than calling in the cops, alleged abusers kept on working, but in different states. >> the shuffling of abusers from state to state to state, from country to country to country,

is common. get the abuser out of dodge. >> reporter: what is the 2 by 2 church? >> it is a secret sect. they claim it to be a nondenominational christian church. they don't have any church structures. they meet in each other's home. it flies under the radar. but it is actually a very organized structure. >> reporter: the belielbelief, their one true way, their interpretation of god's law, supersedes man's. >> all these institutions think they're above the law. because god is on their side, these institutions are havens for sexual abusers. and a child cannot protect a child. >> reporter: protection sherry says she never had 40 years ago when she was 14 and a worker by the name of steve rose moved into her home. >> he was kind of a celebrity

worker. very tall. 6'6". huge presence. very charismatic. >> reporter: handsome, charming? >> all the above. >> reporter: so steve rose moves into your house. what happened? >> so, the first night, "hey, sherry, let's go down to the barn, tell scary stories, feed the dogs." and started kissing me. >> reporter: what happened next? >> it went from just kissing -- to him coming to my room at night. there was touching under the clothes. when we went to his room is when it was more explicit. he asked me to take my pajamas off, take my underwear off. he'd get in -- he'd be there in bed, naked. >> reporter: and then what?

>> he'd have me grab his penis. he'd be touching me everywhere, kissing me. and it was scary. it was scary. because i knew if we got caught, i would be in trouble. >> reporter: you were 14, he was 28? >> 28. i was a little girl. i hadn't started my period. there was nothing womanly about me. i was a little, squanny to >> reporter: steve rose stayed in sherry's home for two months. she says the abuse happened every day. it took three years before sherry could get the courage to tell her parents about steve rose, and when she did, they immediately believed her. sherry's parents did take action. they wrote a letter to their overseer, the man in charge of workers in their area, and they told him about steve rose and

his alleged abuses. he responded, and so did steve rose. >> "i would like to say and make very clear, we sexual intercourse. we did kiss and touch each other intimately. this did not happen with anyone else. i did not intend to cover this up, but i did not know how to handle it other than to leave the area and beg god to forgive me. i was old enough to know better, but still weak in the flesh." >> reporter: members of the church leadership never reported steve rose's abuse to the police. instead, he was asked to apologize to sherry in person. and then what? >> then, six years later, he's promoted. multiple workers knowing that he's a pedophile. >> reporter: sherry has trying to find justice, but when we reached out to the tullaire county district attorney's office we got this statement

that seemed to indicate a criminal conviction would not happen. "prosecutors have meticulously reviewed reports and victim accounts in this case and have determined that any potential crime falls outside of california's statute of limitations." it's not just sherry's life that's been changed forever. there's cheryl owings in north carolina who says her abuse began when she was 7 in 1955. laura lee brown in california, who says she was 9. and there's a girl in montana whose family says she was just 2 years old. she is now 13. in a rare exclusive interview, we sat down with the fbi at the omaha field office that's now leading this worldwide investigation. sources tell us they've given you 800 names of perpetrators.

have you ever heard of something this widespread? >> what i can tell you is this. when we first put out the initial message requesting people to provide us information, we did receive quite a bit of information. and we're continuing that push. >> reporter: the fbi insists that anyone who experienced abuse should contact them. let's say you arrest one person, two people. is that it? >> the fbi focuses in general on bringing cases from local to global. the fbi doesn't stop at just an initial arrest. we will follow that event wherever it leads. >> reporter: there's no one head of the church, but as for the dozens of former and current overseers with whom we spoke, all of them denied knowing anything about the widespread sexual abuse taking place within the church. so we tried several times to call steve rose. we did get him on the phone.

he hung up on me. we're now in minneapolis. tony has me mic'd up. we're going to head over to his work, hoping that he will answer our questions on camera. yeah, here we go, guys. yep, that's him. >> yep, that's him. i would say start approaching him. >> reporter: ready? steve rose, kyra phillips with abc news. i'd like to ask you about these letters that you wrote sherry autrey's parents and also your overseerdid you sexually -- >> no comment. >> reporter: did you sexual abuse sherry autrey when she was 14 and you were 28? >> no comment. >> our many thanks to kyra. you can watch the entire story on "impact by nightline," "the secrets of the 2 by 2 church" now streaming on hulu. when we return, turning life sentences to lifelines for others. what one radical prison program has helped to achieve.

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♪ welcome back. it was a ground-breaking idea. training a small group of incarcerated men to become substance abuse counselors while they were still imprisoned. but the radical experiment succeeded in giving others a second chance in a world where second chances are hard to come by. here's "nightline" coanchor juju chang. >> the gangs. the culture. selling drugs in prison. >> juju: what does redemption look like? perhaps it's in the faces of

everyone here after years of fighting addiction behind bars. signs of hope. >> i didn't want to stand out, and i didn't want to be a target. >> juju: because in prison, showing vulnerability can be dangerous. >> in prison, we're taught not to share. nobody's going to walk up to you and tell you that they're feeling down on or bad, because people consider it as a weakness. >> you make a declaration to yourself -- >> juju: these brave hearts rejected that mindset. it helped earn their freedom from addiction, from trauma, from their past. among them, cameron clark. >> once you give individuals an opportunity to deal with the pain, the hurt, and the trauma that has driven them to the point of incarceration, then and only then can you reverse the process. >> juju: sentenced to life in prison at 15, cameron was among the original 50 men chose anyone 2008 to launch a radical experiment inside the california state prison in solano. >> these two men here, who are a part of that first 50 -- >> juju: the og 50.

>> the og 50, right? has set a tone and stage where all our families and all our lives are benefitting from their efforts. >> juju: the program's success now the subject of a new documentary, "the 50," putting their achievements in the spotlight. >> you're the bank. pay it forward. >> juju: before those men in prison could heal others' addictions fueled by trauma, they had to heal themselves. >> we had to go through therapy before we became counselors. we just didn't become counselors. >> reporter: >> juju: the 50 were trained as substance abuse counselors and certified to help others locked up. >> you have to take your identity back. >> juju: many of that first class bickering like brothers 15 years later. >> look at this, young cameron. >> juju: how old were you there? >> whoo! i was 20-something. >> juju: vandrick and al sasser,

like cameron, are still helping others in recovery years after walking out of prison. like most of the 50, cameron's trauma began at an early age. >> my father was a very abusive person. he often would physically put his hands on my mother. as a youngky, i couldn't protect her. that was trauma. not being able to have a voice was trauma. >> juju: and your mother had issues with drugs. >> yes. >> juju: and was also abusive? >> yes. >> juju: growing up in compton with no good options, he joined the crips, a memory recreated in the film. a gang member at 13. taught to deal drug busy a family friend. >> he gives me marijuana. he tells me, this is 20, this is 10, if somebody tries to take advantage of you, here, you shoot them. at 13 years old. i knew what this was about. >> juju: you were being initiated into gang life. >> yeah. my addiction was violence. the gang addiction prevention piece deals with a lifestyle and all of that. >> juju: two years into gang life, cameron was arrested after

a fatal shooting, faces charges for second degree accessory to felony murder, age 15. >> it was a dumb decision. that was made. and i found myself incarcerated, facing a life sentence. never been like that before. >> juju: while behind bars, cameron soon found himself facing the impact of his crime in a way he never expected. at one point, you encounter the victim's nephew? >> he said, "i want to talk to you for a minute." you know. my uncle used to take us wrestling, he used to take us fishing. he said, i just wanted to let you know who he was. that had a profound mechanic on me, because i didn't have no father. >> juju: it makes you emotional now. >> it makes me emotional. he humanized him to me. >> juju: finding humanity while serving life in prison. earning his counselor certification while incarcerated. tell me why it's important for somebody who's incarcerated to have counseling with somebody

they can really relate to, somebody who's also behind bars? >> i think one of the biggest things is your presentation. that's what allowed other inmates to open up to us and talk to us. >> it all comes down to, if i change your thinking, i can change your behavior. now i got to go back and check and see why you think this way. and it leads to that trauma. i got something special. >> juju: shaul irving, a correctional counselor at the time, hand-selected the first 50 men, launching the prison program. >> if you're going to change some of these inmates, if they're going to listen to another inmate before they listen to me -- when you look at these guys, they can change. but you have to give them the roadmap to change. you were an innocent child, right? something changed. right? >> i was always in the back. didn't like being in the front of things. >> juju: saul's insight paid off. the legacy of 50 going strong,

branching beyond the prison in solano, no longer happening just behind bars. brenton geezer is director of the award-winning documentary "the 50." his film helping amplify the program's message, screened in 12 states. you are my cousin's son, so i've known you a long time. >> yes. >> juju: when you think of the themes of "the 50," what stands out? >> healing and the idea that healing is an ongoing journey. it's a never-ending journey. it's a messy and an arduous one. >> juju: that healing work continues and helps keep them from relapsing and returning to prison. >> the recidivism rate of the program, about 500 people have graduated the program and come out on the outside. so we're looking at less than 1% of them going back in. >> juju: wow. >> when you compare that with the u.s. rate of recidivism, those numbers aren't even close. >> this is about advancing and improving and continue to reassimilate back into society. >> juju: it's just as valuable here on the outside.

>> the vast majority of these men are in the social service sector. case managers, drug and alcohol counselors, working with people on the margins, supporting them through their own healing adjourn knees. >> this is rehabilitation. this is true rehabilitation. >> juju: they're continuing to be healers. >> absolutely. >> juju: cameron is now a father of four and living with purpose. >> it's okay for you to be going through what you're going through right now, but we can change it up. >> juju: change is it up but keeping the memory of where he came from close. naming the service dove. that was your name when you were in the crips? >> that was the name i was cursed with in the streets. i came up with the acronym d.o.v.e. developing, organizing vision for everyone. you don't have to be what the street say to be. what do you want to do? >> our thanks to juju. when we come back, one massachusetts town is turning out graduates in pairs, 23 sets,

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finally tonight, what's in the water in nita, massachusetts? 23 pairs of twins graduating from the pollard middle school. more than 10% of the class. >> i think at one time i had six sets of twins in one class. >> both identical and fraternal. some flying under the radar. >> some didn't even know we're twins. >> the school's rate of twins more than three times the average, and now heading to high school. >> we'll b a