Haredim accused of sexually abusing sons in New York

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On Wednesday, a Haredi father from Houston, Texas, was charged with sexual misconduct against several of his nine adopted sons.

The suspect, 38-year-old Chaim Nissim Cohen of Brooklyn, New York, appeared in court on February 24 after eight new charges were brought against him within 24 hours, according to local news source ABC13.

Cohen has created a successful TikTok account with over 200,000 followers, creating content about his life as a single Hasidic father of nine. He often showed footage of his children aged 8 to 18 in his videos. He also has three children over 18 years.

In early February, he was charged with sexually abusing his 17-year-old son while he was already on trial for sexually abusing a 16-year-old exchange student in 2019, according to the HoustonChronicle.

Cohen's arrest comes after a teenager anonymously called a podcast posing as Cohen's 17-year-old son and explaining how he and his brothers were abused. He also revealed that Child Protective Services (CPS) had investigated their home eight times and failed took no action. “They couldn't save us”, — he said.

17-year-old teenager said he was sexually abused from the age of 11 — just two weeks after he was adopted, — and claimed that many of his brothers were also abused.

The podcast came to the attention of a CPS investigator, who notified the Houston Police Department.

Cohen is currently charged with 12 counts of sexual assault. The indictment itself also said that he kept the children locked up in a room for hours and only released them in the late afternoon and that he forced them to have sexual intercourse. One of the victims, 16, said that Cohen threatened him with spraying him pepper spray if he refuses to do what he was told.

Now 6 of the 9 boys have been transferred to another foster family.

According to ABC13, as there are seven plaintiffs in total claim that he abused them, Cohen will remain in prison without bail until the next trial.

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