Court Documents: Pennsylvania parents 'gifted' teen daughter to 51-year-old man

FEASTERVILLE, Pa. (WHP) -- Police investigating reports of possible child abuse at a Bucks County home found a 51-year-old man fathered two children with an 18-year-old woman living in his home.

Investigators with Lower Southampton Police explained there were at least 11 other girls living in the home. The children were between the ages of 6-months-old and 18 years old.

Police made the discovery and arrested 51-year-old Lee Kaplan at his home on the 400 block of Old Street Rd.

According to an affidavit, Kaplan told police an 18-year-old was the mother of a 3-year-old child and a 6-month-old.

Kaplan added the 3-year-old was born after he had sex with the teenager when she was 14 years old, court records show.

Investigators said the teen was "gifted" by her parents to Kaplan after he helped the family out of "financial ruin."

Daniel Stoltzfus allegedly told investigators he and his wife, Savilla, gave the girl to Kaplan after he "researched the legality of it on the internet."

Police said Stoltzfus knew his daughter was pregnant at 14 years old and that Kaplan was the father.

The children have no birth certificates and officials haven't been able to find any information about them.

The Stoltzfus family told police the other nine children in Kaplan's house were theirs, the Associated Press reports.

"We believe that they're originally from Lancaster County in the Amish community," Lower Southampton Township Police Lt. Ted Krimmel told CBS Philly. "Right now we're working on getting an expert on Amish culture to help us conduct interviews on the rest of these children."

On Saturday, police were still investigating at the home.

Lower Southampton Township Public Safety Director Robert Hoopes said the first priority for police is making sure there are not any dead bodies in the house.

"We brought in cadaver dogs and they really didn't find anything," Hoopes said.

Police were also searching the basement, where the children were living on air mattresses, Hoopes said.

"I guess they were homeschooling the kids because there was some homework found down there," Hoopes said. "There was a lot of instruments there. There was clarinets, there were a lot of violins and some other brass instruments."

Investigators also found an elaborate train set worth tens of thousands of dollars, a chicken coop, vegetable garden and cases of canned goods at Kaplan's home.

Hoopes said the children also "hid in the chicken coop."

Police could not explain why the children were in Kaplan's home.

The children are now in child protective services.

Hoopes explained that the children were Amish, so investigators are getting help from Amish experts in Lancaster County to learn about their lifestyle.

"They can tell us how the Amish raise their children -- if this is normal. We can get information we didn't find any birth certificates so they have a system of their own," Hoopes said.

Investigators have not yet spoken with the children to see if they were abused, Hoopes said.

Kaplan has been charged with sexual assault and other crimes.

Daniel Stoltzfus, of Quarryville, is facing charges of statutory sexual assault, criminal conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children, all of which are felony counts.

Savilla Stoltzfus is charged with a felony count of endangering the welfare of children.

All the suspects are being held on $1 million bail.

The defense counsel for Savilla Stoltzfus released the following statement:

Our client, Savilla Stoltzfus, has been accused of endangering the welfare of a child. At this point, that's all we have: an unconfirmed allegation by the local police department and the county District Attorney's Office. Unless and until a court of law decides otherwise, our client is presumed innocent of any wrongdoing at all. Anybody can be arrested - your friends, your neighbors, your family, even you - but it doesn't mean you're guilty. In the meantime, investigations are ongoing, and information is being gathered. Until all the facts are in, we ask that the court of public opinion hold its judgment of our client as well. Stay tuned.