Hoed Over: Rosh HaAyin Resident Charged With Sex Crimes Against Minors

State prosecutors on Thursday filed an indictment with the Central District Court in Lod against Elior Cohen, a resident of Rosh HaAyin, accusing him of multiple sex offenses against four minors aged 13 to 15. The case was submitted by attorney David Inbar of the Central District Prosecutor's Office.

According to the indictment, Cohen exchanged explicit sexual messages with the boys, met them in person, picked them up in his car, and took them to different vacation cabins. There, prosecutors say, he carried out sexual acts with them and recorded the encounters on his mobile phone.

The indictment says Cohen later urged the minors to delete their messages or hide them in a secret folder. He also allegedly told them to switch off their phones during meetings to avoid location tracking and to cover their faces when entering the cabin so security cameras would not identify them.

In one instance, prosecutors say, Cohen asked one minor to write that he was over 16, even though Cohen knew the boy was 13, so he could later claim he believed the minor was older than 16. He has been charged with rape of a child under 14, indecent acts with a child under 14, and prohibited penetration. Prosecutors are asking the court to keep him in custody until the end of the proceedings.