Man charged with rape after ‘gift’ of US girl
Print Edition
THE authorities in Pennsylvania have charged a man with raping a teenage girl with whom he fathered two children after receiving her as a “gift” from her parents, US media said on Saturday.
Police arrested Lee Kaplan, 51, in the town of Feasterville on Thursday on charges including statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The teen’s parents and her nine sisters also lived in Kaplan’s home. The 18-year-old teen was the oldest among her siblings.
Child welfare authorities removed the young mother, her two young daughters and her nine sisters.
The victim’s parents, Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus, gave her to Kaplan four years ago in gratitude “for helping (the) family out of financial ruin,” according to criminal complaints.
She was 14 years old at the time. Her two children are 3 years old and 6 months old.
Her parents have also been arrested. They and Kaplan are being held on US$1 million bail each.
The Stoltzfuses told police they were going to lose their farm until Kaplan “comes along and gives them money somehow,” Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler told the Inquirer.
The authorities said an anonymous phone call had tipped them off.
Local media identified the caller as Jen Betz, a neighbor. She told television station WPVI she had seen several young girls living in the home all wearing blue dresses and appearing afraid.
She said she had long felt that “something isn’t right” at the Bucks County home.
Betz said she called authorities because was concerned about the young girls she saw outside the house, which she said had boarded windows and high weeds.
“They’re so sad and fearful every time I see them. That’s what made me call,” she said on Saturday. “I’ve been telling my husband for years ‘Something isn’t right, something isn’t right.’”
Officials found 51-year-old Kaplan at his home along with the girls, ranging in age from 6 months to 18 years. The 18-year-old told police that she and Kaplan have a 3-year-old and a 6-month-old.
Kaplan faces charges including statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and aggravated indecent assault.
District Attorney David Heckler said the parents of the girl Kaplan is accused of assaulting told police they were going to lose their farm until Kaplan “came out of the blue and saved them from financial ruin.”
Authorities allege in an affidavit that the girl’s father told an officer he gave his 14-year-old daughter to Kaplan after researching the legality of such an action online.
On Saturday, police and dogs scoured the home’s backyard for evidence. Lieutenant Ted Krimmel of the Lower Southampton police department said authorities waited until dawn so they would be able to search the property in daylight.
“We have a search warrant for the entire property,” he said. “There are dogs searching for evidence.”
Krimmel said officials are trying to verify who the parents of the other children found at the home are. The teenager’s parents told police the other nine girls in the house were their children, but no birth certificates or Social Security cards could be located to confirm that, according to Krimmel.
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