Savilla Stoltzfus, 43, and Daniel Stoltzfus, 44, formerly members of the Amish community, “gifted” their six underage daughters to a man who claimed to be “prophet of God.” They allowed Lee Kaplan, 51, to live with and have sex with six of their nine daughters in return for financial support, according to prosecutors. The daughters are now age 9 to 19. The parents were sentenced to up to seven years in prison Tuesday, according to the Bucks County District Attorney.
The Stoltzfuses entered pleas in April to one count of endangering the welfare of children. Savilla pleaded guilty and Daniel pleaded no contest. Their sentences are the maximum allowed by law, according to prosecutors.
Kaplan was convicted on 17 charges in June, including child rape, statutory sexual assault and indecent assault. His trial included testimony from the six Stoltzfus daughters that they considered themselves Kaplan's wives. The sisters obviously developed a psychological alliance with their captors called Stockholm syndrome. The second-oldest victim said living in Kaplan’s house “worked out for everybody.” “We knew if it did get out that it would be ended… I was very happy where we were.”
The sentences come almost a year after police said they found Kaplan living with 12 females at his Feasterville home. Neighbor Jen Betz told CNN she had contacted authorities multiple times about Kaplan: “My gut was telling me to confirm what I was thinking. I just knew. There was no reason why this older, significantly older man, any man, regardless of what they look like, would have this amount of children, all in blue dresses, never outside the house regularly, looking so scared… I knew that something wasn’t right.”
The ‘relationship’ between Kaplan and Stoltzfus family began in 2002 when the family wanted to leave the Amish faith and needed money, and Kaplan, who cast himself as a prophet of God and offered financial help, became close to them. He began spending nights at their Lancaster County house, where he first invited the two oldest girls — then 7 and 8 — to sleep in his bed, where he fondled and kissed them. Their mother was also given to Kaplan as a wife by her own husband. And the oldest Stoltzfus girl had had two children by Kaplan. Abuse began for each of them between ages 7 and 8, they said.
The only good thing is that the perpetrators of the crime are punished. Lee Kaplan could spend the rest of his life in prison, while parents of the girls were sentenced to up to seven years. The problem that will follow the victims for a long time is a trauma that is worn after much time spent in unnatural conditions.
Photo Credits: Philadelphia Magazine
