‘Blind Drunk’ Israeli Intruder Caught Holding Child Inside Arizona Home

By Josefin Dolsten December 19, 2016

— An Israeli man has been arrested in Arizona after he broke into a stranger’s apartment and was found holding the family’s 2-year-old child.

The suspect, Oren Aharon Cohen, claimed he did not harm the toddler, whom he had drunkenly thought was “a midget.”

An unnamed man in Tempe, Arizona, woke up to a find a stranger holding his crying daughter early morning last Thursday, The Washington Post reported. Cohen, 34, told the homeowner that he was his friend, tossed the child onto a couch and attempted to run away. The father caught Cohen, and police arrested him for second-degree burglary, aggravated assault and kidnapping.

Police found Cohen’s shoes, coat and passport in the child’s bedroom and discovered that the Israeli had used a bathroom in the apartment and drank orange juice from the refrigerator.

In his court appearance on Friday, Cohen offered an unusual explanation for his actions: He had been drunk and therefore had gone into the wrong apartment, where he had mistaken the child for “a midget.”

“I went to visit a friend. Her name is Carolina. She lives in this complex. We were drinking a lot over there in her house. We went outside — I went outside [to] smoke a cigarette. I guess I got blacked out. I went to the wrong door and that’s why you guys charge me [with] burglary? For going to the wrong apartment.”

He continued: “Now after that I didn’t realize it was dark, I didn’t realize what was happening. And I guess, that’s when I saw this midget. It looks like a midget and I thought it’s [a] midget.”

Cohen alluded to the possibility that he had touched the child inappropriately: “I would never do anything like that. My dad is a sex offender. I would never do anything even close to that.”

Cohen’s explanation was not enough to sway the judge to change his bail, which was set at $250,000. He is being held at a Maricopa County jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO