Man’s son also charged with abuse
The eldest brother will likely be sent to Harris County to address the sexual abuse charges.
Avshalom Cohen, the eldest adopted son of a Houston man accused of sexually abusing several of his adopted sons, is facing a string of criminal allegations across Texas, including similar sexual abuse claims involving a sibling.
The accuser identified his 22-year-old sibling as his abuser. The young boy’s father had been accused by four of the children of abuse as well. The father was arrested in February on charges he’d beaten and sexually abused some of the children years prior.
Court records indicate that the eldest sibling appeared in a united front with the family patriarch, Hayim Cohen, who ran social media accounts showcasing his life as a single father raising nine adopted children in what he described as a Hasidic Jewish household. The younger sibling, among six boys placed in Child Protective Services custody, said his oldest brother came to the aid of their father as the young boy and his father fought during one assault, according to court documents.
On some nights, the older brother would sexually abuse the young sibling in the child’s bed, the documents continued.
The abuse started when the sibling was about 14, and his brother was 20, he told investigators. The abuse was detailed in a July 13 warrant for the eldest brother’s arrest. The court document states the eldest brother also goes by the name Zackery Cate.
Prosecutors have said the father used the social media posts and rules imposed by his professed orthodox religion to mask “excessive abuse” in the home.
Missouri City police arrested the eldest brother four days later, on July 17, on unrelated charges in Fort Bend County. He is charged in Fort Bend with possession of drugs and a firearm, jail records show.
Wesley Wittig, a prosecutor for the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, said the eldest brother will likely be sent to Harris County to address the sexual abuse charges if he makes the collective $60,000 bail in Fort Bend County.
Nathan Hennigan, a defense attorney for the eldest brother, would not comment beyond saying that his client remains in the Fort Bend County jail and has yet to appear in Harris County on the abuse charges.
The father was charged in February with sexually abusing one of his sons. About two weeks later, he appeared in court again on additional sexual assault charges involving three other minor sons. The children have accused the father of faking an array of ailments, including a terminal illness. The eldest son wore an Army uniform to the proceedings for this father in the 182nd District Court.
Army officials said that the eldest brother enlisted in February — in the days before authorities descended on the father’s home and arrested him for a second time. The eldest son was released from the Army the following month through an administrative discharge, officials from military branch said.
Before the allegations involving his own children, the father, whose birth name is Jeffrey Lujan Vejil, was on bond in connection with a 2019 case involving forced sexual contact with a foreign exchange student staying at his home. The allegations in that case prompted civil litigation, which is pending and slated for trial in September.