A Houston man who became noted on social media and in local press for his “unique family” of adopted sons has been charged on a slew of child sex crimes. Hayim Nissim Cohen, 38, reportedly fabricated an identity as a chronically ill Hasidic Jewish Rabbi to obscure his crimes.
Cohen, 38, was charged last week with eight offenses, including injury to a child under 15, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault of a child, and continuous sexual abuse of a child. The charges were the latest leveled against Cohen, who was already facing other counts also related to child sexual abuse. In total, Cohen is currently facing 11 felony charges.
Cohen’s long history of child sexual abuse first came to light on February 1 after one of his adoptive sons, now 17, called into an advice podcast and detailed abuses against him and his brothers that had started from around the time he was adopted, at age 11.
The teenager, who stated he had been using a burner phone for his protection, said that he had planned to wait until he was an adult to report his adoptive father. He feared retribution from Cohen, who had bribed and threatened both him and his brothers with injury and death if they went to police.
He also expressed a reluctance to report because he had little faith in the child protective system, having already experienced failures from those who were supposed to be safeguarding the adoptive process.
The podcasters, concerned for the youth’s life, fished more details out of the teen before calling police, who were able to trace the call and find the teenager. The boy initially denied having admitted to any abuses but later admitted to what had happened after being presented with a recording of his own voice.
Janna Oswald, chief prosecutor for the Harris County District Attorney’s Crimes Against Children Division, provided some disturbing details on the children’s experiences to the Houston Chronicle. Oswald explained that the children were locked in a room for most of the day, and that Cohen would sometimes force them to perform sex acts once they were let out. One victim, now 16, said that if he disobeyed, Cohen would pepper spray him.
Oswald also says Cohen used religion and social media popularity to obscure the reality of his crimes.
According to Times of Israel, the latest counts were laid against Cohen while he was already facing a felony indecency charge from 2019 unrelated to his sons. Cohen is alleged to have sexually abused an underage foreign exchange student who had been staying in his home.
The student, who was from Spain, had been attending Sharpstown High School and had been placed with Cohen as a host despite multiple people reportedly having concerns he was a pedophile. The youth’s ordeal only came to light after he broke down and told the principal of his school.
Cohen, presenting himself as a single father raising nine ultra-Orthodox Jewish sons, amassed a sizable following on TikTok, where the family’s 200,000 followers have viewed his content more than three million times.
In addition to this TikTok page, the family had a channel on YouTube and accounts on Instagram and Facebook. Most of the videos published across the platforms feature Cohen and his adoptive sons vlogging their daily life, discussing Jewish customs, and preaching love and acceptance.
In many photos on the family’s social media pages, Cohen is seen using an oxygen mask and wheelchair — two devices he is also using during court appearances. But his adoptive sons have challenged the authenticity of Cohen’s allegedly poor health, claiming he never used the assistive medical devices when he was in the home. According to KTRK, one of the teenage boys reportedly told investigators “everything (Cohen) does is fake.”
In addition to potentially fabricating his health conditions, questions have been raised about Cohen’s Judaism.
Cohen claimed in various press interviews over the years to have grown up speaking Yiddish as a Hasidic Jew in New York City and occasionally claimed to be a Rabbi, but legal documents show that Cohen was born Jeffrey Lujan Vejil in Odessa, Texas.
Questions have also been raised about Cohen’s claims that his sons were all from Jewish backgrounds. The inconsistencies in Cohen’s story were first identified by Za’akah, a child safeguarding group focused on combatting sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. Za’akah had been closely monitoring the case, and has been providing updates on their TikTok.
The Orthodox Jewish community in Houston also reportedly identified problems with Cohen’s performance, according to Times of Israel, and he was subsequently shunned. Cohen was relegated to presenting as Hasidic at secular Jewish events where less people would pick up in the discrepancies in his behavior.
Notably, Cohen was a strong proponent of adoption, and urged people, including single men, to adopt children.
In a 2017 interview with Houston Family Magazine, Cohen said: “As a father, I cherish every moment with my kiddos, and I must humble myself and remember that they cherish every moment with me. I pray that every father, whether single, married, or adoptive, can see that he is a hero to his kids–in the good times and the bad.”
A later interview with the Jewish Press, would show Cohen reiterate his sentiments: “I’m a single father of nine. People have a million questions, and I get that … My goal for this online platform is twofold… to demonstrate that anyone – even a single chassidic man – could adopt, and to show people that foster kids are kids like any others.”
On his official website, Cohen had an entire section dedicated to encouraging adoption, and made several Youtube videos on fostering. Cohen also founded an entity called the Jewish Home School Network, which he described as being started in April of 2017.
“Our mission is to help provide support and understanding from a Jewish perspective. Our goal is to reach out to other homeschooling families in order to create a network,” Cohen’s website reads. “We are open to all levels of observance. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions!”
The horrific charges against Cohen come just weeks after another another shocking incident of adoptive parent abuse came to widespread public attention.
In January, the Daily Wire reported new details from the 2022 case of William and Zachary Zulock, a gay couple in Georgia who had adopted two sons from a Christian special needs agency. Like Cohen, the Zulocks had a significant social media presence where they advertised their unique family.
The Zulocks were frequently seen at pride events, and even made customized rainbow t-shirts for themselves and their adopted children that they posed in on Instagram.
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