A Pennsylvania couple will serve up to seven years in jail for “gifting” their young daughter to a cult-like figure. The man, 52-year-old Lee Kaplan, impregnated the young girl and sexually assaulted five of her sisters.
As PEOPLE reports, Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus allowed their children to live like “sex slaves” with their friend Kaplan.
“For whatever sick purpose — whether or not you fell under the power in a trance-like state of Kaplan — you knowingly allowed your family, your children, your daughters to move into this person’s home,” Bucks County Judge Jeffrey L. Finley told the father.
The judge told the mother: “You exchanged a certain level of comfort for the intellectual, emotional and sexual well-being of your children.
“You watched day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year as Mr. Kaplan took your daughters by the hand, led them into his bedroom [and] locked the door behind.”
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mr and Mrs Stoltzfus were sentenced to up to seven years in prison on child-endangerment counts.
During Kaplan’s sex assault trial in May, authorities alleged Mr and Mrs Stoltzfus “gifted” their eldest daughter—aged just seven at the time—to Kaplan because he had offered them financial assistance, News Corp reports. In court, Deputy District Attorney Kohler argued that Kaplan had “brainwashed” the family and carried himself as a prophet of God.
Kaplan was convicted of 17 child-sexual assault charges and will face sentencing in September.
The sisters are now aged between nine and 19. Kaplan fathered two children by one of the girls.
One of the victims told the court that Kaplan first molested her when she was just seven years old. The girl’s mother said she knew about the interaction, but thought “it could be a good thing,” Time reports.
In May, Deputy District Attorney Kohler delivered some good news in light of the girls’ tragic past. Since being rescued from Kaplan’s house, the girls are “already starting to spread their wings more,” he said.
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