Crime
A MONSTER who kept six young sisters as sex slaves at his home after he was ‘gifted’ them by their parents faces life in prison.
Police found Lee Kaplan, 51, was found living with 12 women and girls who were all related in Pennsylvania last year.
Six of them were the daughters of Amish couple Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus.
Prosecutors say the girls were “gifted” by the parents to Kaplan after he provided the family with financial help.
Kaplan repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted them and the oldest victim, aged 18, bore two of his children, also girls.
Eventually Daniel Stoltzfus also “gifted” his wife Savilla to Kaplan “in hopes of strengthening the Stoltzfus bloodlines.”
The Stoltzfus’ were also arrested and admitted child endangerment. They confessed that they knew Kaplan was having sex with their 14-year-old daughter and even “researched the legality of the deal on the internet”, police said.
Kaplan denied 17 charges including child rape, sexual assault and indecent assault and was convicted by a jury on Tuesday.
During the harrowing trial, all the girls aged 9 to 19 gave evidence about their sick life at the hands of Kaplan, who described himself as a prophet of God.
They were rarely allowed to leave the house as Kaplan told them the outside world would ruin them. They spent their days tending to crops in the garden and being ‘home-schooled’ by Kaplan.
But the alarm was eventually raised after neighbour Jen Betz called police last year.
She said the house seemed strange.
“My gut was telling me to confirm what I was thinking,” she told CNN.
“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.”
Kaplan’s lawyer Ryan Hyde said he continues to deny the offences and will look at appeal options.
“He’s said from the very beginning he didn’t do these things,” he told Philly.com
“He had hoped for a better outcome.” — NAN/Mirror/News Express
— Jun 7, 2017 @ 16:50 GMT
Tags: CNN Converts Prophet prophet of God Prosecutors Woman
