An adoptive father who sought social media fame for taking in 9 children until one called into a podcast making horrendous accusations that led to his arrest.
38-year-old Hayim Nissim Cohen was arrested on Friday over the claims made by his 17-year-old adopted son.
The unidentified teenager said that Child Protective Services had visited the family numerous times but that Cohen bribed the children or threatened them to stay quiet.
The teen said that Cohen had sexually abused him and his brothers since two weeks after the child had been adopted at 11 years old by Cohen.
Cohen had a YouTube channel documenting his family life called “Our Unique Family,” with nearly 10k followers and more than 560k views.
According to the charging document, the teen also said that Cohen allegedly deceives people by pretending to be sick when he’s not and uses a wheelchair despite not really needing it.
A spokesperson for CPS told KTRK-TV that all of the boys had been removed from the home and transferred to foster care.
Cohen had been previously accused of having sexual contact with a child who was a foreign exchange student from Spain. The boy spoke out about the alleged abuse to the staff at Sharpstown High in 2019. Cohen had been bonded out of jail for that charge of indecency with a child. The accuser turns 20 in March and is suing the organization that placed him with Cohen.
“There were so many red flags,” said Sherry Chandler, an attorney for the exchange student.
That case is still pending.
“We all suspected, I mean he is a pedophile,” she added. “You don’t just start one day to be a pedophile. He’s been like that probably for a very long time. And we all suspected the other kids were getting abused.”
In an interview with Houston Family Magazine from 2017, Cohen was asked what advice he would give to parents from his experience.
“Kids are truly a blessing. They are our future,” he said. “We must enrich them with goodness and kindness. We fathers and mothers are the light to our children, and they are the light to our future.”
Cohen was charged with continuous sex abuse of a child and sexual assault of a child under 17 years old.
“He’s a monster. I mean it’s just disgusting,” said Chandler. “I hope he rots in prison.”
Here’s a local news video about the arrest:
No CPS action taken after 8 visits to man now accused of raping adoptive sons, docs saywww.youtube.com
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!