Boro Park: Girls Safe After Peculiar Kidnapping Shabbos Afternoon

Boro Park, Brooklyn – Two children who disappeared on Shabbos afternoon in Boro Park, Brooklyn, were found after about three hours, safe and sound, a few blocks away from their original location in a peculiar incident that has residents scratching their heads.

Boro Park Shomrim related that the two children, four-year-old cousins who live overseas and were in New York for Yom Tov, were on swings in the backyard of their grandparents’ house at the corner of 51^st Street and 14^th Avenue at about 3 p.m. when a woman they did not know began pushing them on the swings. The woman told a questioning neighbor that she was “babysitting” the girls.

The mother of one of the girls watching from a window saw what was transpiring and immediately called down to them to come inside. She then headed outside. However, by the time the mother got to the swings, the girls were gone.

Not knowing in which direction they went, Shomrim volunteers who were informed of the disappearance began searching on surrounding streets. Video surveillance examined by Shomrim showed the woman holding the girls’ hands while walking on 51^st Street, heading toward 15^th Avenue, so they focused their search on that vicinity.

Shortly before 6 p.m., the woman and girls were spotted at 52^nd Street and 15^th Avenue. Police, who had been notified of the search, immediately drove down to that location and took the girls to safety.

46-year-old Keren Cohen of Boro Park was taken into custody and charged with criminal trespass and endangering the welfare of the children. Cohen told police officers that she desired to take the children to a park.

{Gavriel Sitrit-Matzav.com Newscenter}