Hayim Nissim Cohen: Inside the dark accusations made against the TikTok rabbi who wowed the Internet
If you or anyone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to immediately call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
HOUSTON, TEXAS: A Houston rabbi, who gained social media notoriety for adopting nine boys as a single father, has reportedly been arrested after being accused of sexually assaulting his sons for years. Hayim Nissim Cohen, 38, was charged on February 17 with continuous sex abuse of a child and sexual assault of a child under 17 years old. Both allegations are the result of incidents involving the same son.
Court documents reported that Cohen’s 17-year-old son, whose identity has not been revealed, called into a podcast on February 1, and attested to the abuse he and his brothers have endured at the hands of their adoptive father. The boy stated that Cohen forced him to perform sexual acts, adding he was repeatedly “raped” by him since he was adopted at 11. He claimed he used a burner phone to escape detection by Cohen and intended to wait until he was 18 to report the abuse to authorities. He said Child Protective Services (CPS) had conducted eight investigations on the family, but Cohen always threatened or bribed the survivors to keep them from telling the truth, according to KHOU11.
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What are the allegations against Hayim Nissim Cohen?
The podcasters then informed the police, who proceeded to examine the youngster after tracking his phone. The teenager initially denied the allegations against his adoptive father but "became visibly scared, shaking, and held his head down" when police played the call recording. He later confessed to making the call and told authorities he was "not bold enough to say anything" about the assault, according to ABC 7.
The chief prosecutor for the Harris County District Attorney's Crimes Against Children Division, Janna Oswald, detailed further allegations against Cohen as she noted that he used to imprison the boys in a room for lengthy portions of the day and then compelled them to engage in sexual activities after he released them. One of his 16-year-old sons claimed that Cohen threatened to pepper spray them if they did not cooperate. Oswald continued that the perp deliberately misused religion and a social media facade to conceal his actual character and actions. Following Cohen’s arrest, six of his sons were removed from the home and placed in protective care.
Why was Hayim Nissim Cohen arrested in 2019?
This is not the first time when Cohen has been arrested over sexual assault allegations. At the time of his second arrest, Cohen was out on bail in connection with a 2019 case in which he was accused of sexual contact with a student, now 20, who was staying with him during a Spanish exchange program. The student's attorney said that the charges against Cohen were no surprise. "There were so many red flags," Sherry Chandler said, according to the Daily Mail, adding, "We all suspected (Cohen) is a pedophile. You don't just start one day. We all suspected the other kids were getting abused."