Family of dad accused of raping adopted sons defend him

The family of a phony Hasidic father who found fame on TikTok for adopting nine boys is defending him after he was charged with sexually abusing most of them.

Hayum Nissim Cohen, 38, regularly shared videos of his family in Houston on social media, gaining 200,000 followers on TikTok before one of his adopted sons, 17, raised the allegations against him to the BlindSkinnedBeauty podcast.

But Cohen’s oldest son, Avshalom, 22, rushed to support his father as he claimed his brother was lying and suffered from multiple personality disorder, autism and cognitive issues.

“My father never abused me,” he told DailyMail.com.

“He’s a great father that would never hurt any of us. If I saw anything out of order by anyone, I would have done everything in my power to protect my brothers.”

Cohen — who claimed to be a Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn despite being born Jeffrey Lujan Vejil in the Lone Star State with aspirations to be a priest — was arrested last month on 12 charges of abuse against six of his nine sons.

Cohen was already out on bond in an earlier child sex case when investigators busted him after looking into his son’s phone call, where he claimed he was sexually assaulted since he was 11 and that Child Protective Services never took action despite being called out at least eight times.

CPS declined to comment on the case.

Along with the 17-year-old, five other kids — ages 9, 10, 14, 15 and 16 — also came forward with their own allegations, prosecutors said, with the minors placed into CPS.

Avshalom, who is defending his father with two other siblings, said he has gone to a family court in Houston to try and get custody of the six younger brothers.

“I haven’t spoken with them since they were removed from our house,” he said. “I’m hoping in the near future I’ll have them back home.”

Cohen’s mother, Corina Lujan, 71, insisted that he would never abuse his adopted sons because it was his goal to “help kids that nobody wanted.”

“My son is innocent of the charges against him,’ she told the Mail. “He loves his children. He would never hurt them in any way.

“They were for the most part a big happy family who got along. This is all a big bad dream. I’m still in shock by it all.”

Lujan also reiterated Avshalom’s claims that the son who made the initial allegations suffers from mental health issues.

“He can change his personality in a split second and go from talking in Chinese to doing high kicks with his legs in the air. He has some problems,” she said.

“And I think he’s convinced his younger siblings into believing they were molested by their father.”

Cohen’s brother, Eric Vejil, 33, agreed with their mother and called for medical records to be provided that would show whether the boys were victimized.

“If he sexually assaulted the young boys as prosecutors claim, they should have them medically examined,” he said.

“I’m sure that doctors could tell on a young boy whether or not there has been any sexual assault or damage to them.”  

Prosecutors, however, said that behind Cohen’s bright, family-friendly online personality, there was “excessive abuse.”

Prosecutors claimed that the father kept his kids locked in a room for most of the day, and would only let them out at 4 p.m. when he would sometimes force them to perform sex acts, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Harris County prosecutor Janna Oswald told the court that Cohen would pepper-spray one of the victims if he refused him.

The allegations from his six sons came as Cohen was still fighting a 2019 “indecency with a child” charge involving a then 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Spain.

According to court documents, the student had gotten caught for allegedly shoplifting socks at a Walmart, with Cohen instructing the boy to touch him to make up for it and then placing the minor’s hand on his penis.

Cohen was arrested and posted bail, and although his bond conditions prevented him from going within 1,000 feet of locations where children may be, he was not barred from raising his adopted kids.

The charges are still pending on the 2019 case, as is a civil lawsuit.

Cohen’s attorney did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.