According to an affidavit from the Lower Southampton Police Department, the resident of the house had told the neighbors that no children were living there.
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Kaplan now faces a multitude of charges – including sexual assault.
Even more horrifying, police say the oldest girl had been “gifted” to Kaplan four years earlier, when she was just 14, by her own parents, an Amish couple from Lancaster County named Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus.
Kaplan told police he fathered a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old daughter with an 18-year-old girl, the eldest he kept in his home – getting her pregnant when she was just 14. The 18 year old’s parents told he police that the other nine girls were their children also, but there were no birth certificates or other evidence to confirm her story.
Krimmel said officials are trying to verify who the parents of the other children found at the home are. The Stoltzfuses were charged along with Lee Kaplan, 51, who has been charged with 2 counts each of: statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault where the complainant is less than 16 years old, indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, corruption of minors, contact or communication with minor – sexual offenses.
“There are dogs searching for evidence”. Police do not believe any had seen a doctor or had been going to school. He said he thought it was legal, The Associated Press reported.
Jen Betz, a mom from rural Bucks County, Pa., knew something was wrong at the house next door, with its boarded windows and high weeds.
Prosecutors allege the parents of the teenager said they were going to lose their farm until Kaplan helped them.
“I’ve ridden by this house (and) I’ve seen young girls, various ages of children, dressed mostly in Amish clothing”, Horst said. “I’ve been telling my husband for years ‘Something isn’t right, something isn’t right'”.
Police don’t know if any of the other girls were sexually abused; they will be questioned in coming days.
Both Kaplan and the victim’s parents are now being held at Bucks County Jail on $1 million bail each.
The underage children were taken from the home and placed in protective custody, Hearn said.
“Very sheltered”, the neighbor said of the girls.
The couple were Amish, but renounced it amid a years-long fight with community elders, according to a federal lawsuit they filed in 2009 against the church. He dismissed claims from neighbors that they had been complaining about the living situation in the home for years.
“I wanted (Kaplan) off the street despite the fact he told me he loved the children”, Lower Southampton District Judge John Waltman said on Friday.
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“I said ‘absolutely, ‘” Betz explained.
