Teen reports sexual abuse live on Atlanta-based podcast, leading to rescue of 6, stepfather’s arrest

Tom Jones
·2 min read
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A podcaster in Atlanta is getting credit for helping rescue children in Texas from an alleged abusive home. One of the children called into her podcast in January asking for help.

Podcaster Twaiyah Paynes said she wasn’t going to stop until she got those kids to safety. She thanks God she found the teen who called her.

“I believe that God works in ways. Boy, God works in ways,” she said.

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Thanks to her intervention, several brothers in Houston, Texas, who told law officials their stepfather sexually abused them are now out of the home. Their stepfather, 38-year-old Hayim Cohen, was arrested.

“I just thank God that we were able to get these kids out the house,” Paynes told Channel 2′s Tom Jones.

It started in January when Paynes was doing her Blindskinnedbeauty podcast on addiction. That is when a teen typed in the chat he had a disturbing topic.

“He said, ‘What do you do if your life is in danger?’” she said.

The teen then called in and said his stepfather had been sexually abusing him and his younger brothers. But the teen wouldn’t give his name or tell Paynes where exactly he lived. Payne did manage to get the teen to say he was in Texas.

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On the call, you can hear the teen refusing to give his location out of fear. You then hear an exasperated Paynes respond.

“So how do you expect us to give you help, babe? I don’t know what to do right now,” she said.

The child mentioned he was in a police program called DRT and that he was one of nine kids adopted by his stepfather.

So Paynes started calling all around the state trying to find out who had that program.

“The one that had that DRT program is Houston,” she said.

She got the stepfather’s name after Googling “stepfather adopts nine kids.”

Paynes immediately called Children’s Protective Services.

“I was like thank you, Jesus. I was like, in my house, just praising God. Because at that point, my job was over,” Paynes said.

Cohen was charged with continuous sex abuse of a child and sexual assault of a child under 17.

Paynes said her job is over, but it is not. She told Channel 2 Action News some of the children are coming here to live with her.

She said the children will need therapy and other help to thrive and survive here. If you would like to help, click here.

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