An ‘Orthodox rabbi’ who became famous on TikTok for adopting nine boys as a single dad has been charged with sexual assault after one of his sons accused him of years of sexual abuse.
Hayim Nissim Cohen, 38, from Texas was charged in February with sexual assault and continuous sex abuse of a child under 17 after one of his sons phoned into a podcast on February 1 to report the alleged crimes.
The boy accused Cohen of sexual misconduct, and used the word ‘rape‘ to describe the abuse he said he had experienced since he was adopted at 11.
The child claimed that Cohen had abused the boys and threatened to kill them if they ever spoke out.
Six of the boys have been removed from Cohen’s home and placed in protective care. They range from eight to 18 years old, this does not include three older adopted boys.
In addition, Cohen is accused of faking his Orthodox Judaism and his disabilities. He is often pictured in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank and claims to have grow up in a Hasidic Jewish community in New York City.
However, records show that Cohen is in fact from Odessa, Texas and that his real name is Jeffrey Lujan Veji, according to the pro-adoption advocacy group Reduxx.
When the child called into the podcast, he used a burner phone to to avoid detection by Cohen. He said he wanted to remain anonymous for fear of his adopted father.
The podcasters later called police, who were able to trace the phone and then went to see the boy.
Initially he denied he had made the accusations, but later ‘became visibly scared, shaking, and held his head down’ when police played him a recording of the call.
He eventually admitted he was the one who made the call, and told police he was ‘not brave enough to say anything’ about the abuse, according to ABC 7.
Chief prosecutor for the Harris County District Attorney’s Crimes Against Children Division, Janna Oswald detailed some of the allegations against Cohen.
She told the Houston Chronicle that Cohen would allegedly force the boys into a room for a long period and then allegedly sexually assault them once they were released.
One of the victims accused Cohen of pepper spraying them if they didn’t do what he asked.
It was not the first time Cohen had been accused. He was out on bond over a 2019 case in which he was accused of sexual contact by a student, now 20, who was staying with Cohen during an exchange program from Spain.
