Family of Orthodox 'rabbi' accused of raping adopted sons defend him

The Orthodox 'rabbi' accused of raping his adoptive sons grew up as an altar boy in the Roman Catholic church, DailyMail.com can reveal.

And now Hayim Nissim Cohen's family is rushing to support him as he faces the possibility of spending much of the rest of his life behind bars.

'My father never abused me,' Cohen's eldest son Avshalom, 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.'

Avshalom, 22, claims the brother who is making the allegations suffers from multiple personality disorder, autism and has cognitive issues.

Hayim Nissim Cohen, 38, was charged with sexual assault and continuous sex abuse of a child for allegedly raping his adoptive sons. Cohen is pictured with eight of his nine sons

His family are defending him, with his eldest son Avshalom telling DailyMail.com, 'My father never abused me. He's a great father that would never hurt any of us'

He said last week he went to family court in Houston in a bid to get custody of his six younger brothers.

'Right now they are living at some CPS (Child Protective Service) facility. I haven't spoken with them since they were removed from our house. I'm hoping in the near future I'll have them back home.'

Cohen, 38, who found fame on TikTok with posts about his nine adopted sons, was arrested last month in Houston after his 17-year-old son claimed on a podcast last month that he had sexually abused him since he was 11 years old and that his other adopted brothers were also abused.

Cohen, 38, is now facing 12 charges of abuse allegedly carried out on six of his nine sons

He is now facing 12 charges of abuse allegedly carried out on six of his nine sons.

With nearly 200,000 followers on their @our_unique_family TikTok account Cohen and his children regularly posted about their Orthodox Hasidic life, singing, dancing and eating, as a family.

But Harris County prosecutor Janna Oswald said that behind that happy façade lay 'excessive abuse', which was only masked by religion and social media.

She said the children remained locked in a room for most of the day, letting them out around 4pm at times forcing them to perform sex acts. If they refused to comply the son said his father would pepper spray him.

Court papers detail how the allegations came to light when a boy anonymously called into a podcast called the BlindSkinnedBeauty and accused Cohen of sexual assault on him and his brothers.

Podcasters called police and they were able to trace the caller back to an IP address and eventually his cell phone. The 17-year-old anonymous caller turned out to be one of Cohen's sons. Police interviewed him and he said he's been abused by Cohen since he was a child. He also alleged that his other siblings have also been abused by Cohen.

Cohen grew up in Odessa, Texas, as Jeffrey Vejil. His mother Corina Lujan, 71, told DailyMail.com the family is Mexican-American.

She said he was an altar boy at a church in Odessa and then started exploring other Christian faiths. It was after he moved to Dallas to work as an office manager that he became attracted to Judaism.

'He came to us one day and said, 'I'm going to convert to Judaism.'

'I was shocked at first, because at one point in his life he wanted to become a priest. But then I thought it was beautiful.'

In 2010 he filed for a name change and cited his faith conversion as a reason.

Cohen grew up in Odessa, Texas, as Jeffrey Vejil. He is pictured in a booking photo form 2006 when he was arrested for writing a bad check

Cohen's mother (pictured) Corina Lujan, 71, told DailyMail.com the family is Mexican-American. She said he was an altar boy at a church in Odessa and then started exploring other Christian faiths. It was after he moved to Dallas to work as an office manager that he became attracted to Judaism

A few years later Lujan said he moved to Houston and around that time he started to young adopt boys.

'I asked him why he wants to adopt so many kids, and he told me, mom, I want to help kids that nobody wanted.'

Lujan said his goal was to eventually move to Israel with the boys when they got older.

Avshalom, 22, says the brother who is making the allegations suffers from multiple personality disorder, autism and has cognitive issues

She said she's spoken to him a few times in jail, but has had difficulty fully understanding him. 'I'm hard of hearing and he can't speak too loud because of his medical issues.'

She said that he has 'water in his lungs,' and she thinks he may have serious health problems.

'He's not in very good health,' she said

'Hayim told me, 'Don't worry. Everything is going to be OK. I didn't do anything.'

Lujan insisted her son has done nothing wrong. 'My son is innocent of the charges against him,' she declared.

'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,' she said.

She said the boy who made the claims is now 18 and suffers from multiple personality disorder and has cognitive 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. And I think he's convinced his younger siblings into believing they were molested by their father.

But she added: 'If this alleged sexual abuse had gone on for years as claimed by the prosecutor why didn't any therapist notice it or know about it? Several of the kids see a therapist on a weekly basis, one would think the therapist could see if there were any signs of abuse. But there weren't any.'

Avshalom said last week he went to family court in Houston in a bid to get custody of his 6- younger brothers

The family last saw Cohen at Thanksgiving when they went to Houston to see him

Cohen's brother Eric Vejil, 43, agreed. 'If he sexually assaulted the young boys as prosecutors claim, they should have them medically examined. I'm sure that doctors could tell on a young boy whether or not there has been any sexual assault or damage to them.' 

The family last saw Cohen at Thanksgiving when they went to Houston to see him.

'He was acting like he always does, nothing was different about him,' said Lujan. 'We all sat down together for Thanksgiving and had a great meal and spent time with my grandchildren.'

But Cohen has been in trouble before. He was arrested in 2019 on an 'indecency with a child' charge involving a then 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Spain.

According to court papers the boy got into trouble for shoplifting socks at a Walmart. Cohen told the boy he needed to make him happy. The boy then touched Cohen's chest and stomach area and noticed him getting aroused while making noises. Cohen then grabbed the boy's hand and placed it on his penis.

Cohen was later bailed. Part of his bond conditions prevented him from going within 1,000 feet of places where children may be, but he was permitted to be around his own children.

Criminal charges are still pending in this case as is a civil lawsuit was filed against Cohen for the same incident.

And in 2006, according to court records, he was arrested in Midland, Texas for writing a $357 check when he didn't have the funds in his account. Charges were dropped after he paid the full amount.