Police Begin Interviews With Girls Found Living In Eastern Pennsylvania Home
FEASTERVILLE, Pa. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- When police showed up at Lee Kaplan's home in the Philadelphia suburbs last week, they found a dozen girls living there, the eldest of whom was an 18-year-old who authorities say had been ``gifted'' to him by her parents as repayment for a debt.
With Kaplan and the teen's parents now jailed on $1 million bail, authorities on Monday began interviewing some of the other girls, seeking evidence of crimes against them and trying to piece together their lives at the home in Feasterville.
The interviews ``will be taking place over the next couple of days to try to see just what these kids' lives were about, who they are and obviously if there was any criminal conduct toward any of them,'' said David Heckler, Bucks County district attorney.
Acting on a tip Thursday, police found Kaplan, 51, and a dozen girls ranging in age from 6 months to 18 years. The eldest told authorities she and Kaplan have two children together, a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old.
The teenager's parents are Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus, a formerly Amish couple from Lancaster County. Daniel Stoltzfus told police he and his wife ``gifted'' their daughter to Kaplan when she was 14 to thank Kaplan ``for helping his family out of financial ruin,'' according to a police affidavit.
"Her husband and Kaplan were partners in business, so I guess that's how they made acquaintance," Robert Hoopes, Director of Public Safety said.
As CBS2's Ali Bauman reported, most of the girls have no birth certificates or any kind of identification.
Kaplan admitted he fathered two children with the teen, court records say. He faces charges that include statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault. Daniel Stoltzfus, 43, was charged with conspiracy and child endangerment. Savilla Stoltzfus, 42, faces a child endangerment charge.
Online court records do not list attorneys for any of the defendants.
The couple told police the other nine children in Kaplan's home belong to them. The children have been placed in foster care in Lancaster County.
"They didn't seem like normal, playful kids. I never saw them outside playing. They'd only be outside working or hanging the laundry," neighbor Kevin Rihl said.
Police said they investigated the home after a tip that Kaplan had impregnated a teenager.
Neighbors said they had no idea so many girls were living there, because only three would be outside at a time.
"There was a blue van in there occasionally three or four," a neighbor said.
"It seemed like there were different girls there all the time, but I just thought I wasn't paying attention," Rihl said.
Inside, police found musical instruments, and homework. They didn't find any records of identification.
"They may have been thinking they were homeschooling them, but they were homeschooling correctly they would have been registered with the local school district, which they were not," Hoopes said.
Without birth certificates, authorities are trying to identify who the parents are of the unknown girls. If it's Kaplan, authorities said custody might not be out of the question.
"He's gonna have to answer the criminal charges, and after that it's a possibility," Hoopes said.
Elizabethtown College professor Donald Krabill, an expert on the Amish, said the couple was ex-communicated by the church in 2003.
``This whole thing is bizarre. It doesn't reflect any of the traditional, typical Amish beliefs or practices,'' he said Monday. ``It's basically not an Amish story.''
Records show the couple filed a federal lawsuit against an Amish sect, among others, in 2009 after they lost their property in Kirkwood, Lancaster County, to foreclosure. The suit was dismissed.
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