Parents who "gifted" daughters to their abuser sentenced

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday sentenced a married couple to up to seven years in prison each for "gifting" their young daughter to a cult-like figure who sexually assaulted the girl and her five sisters. 

Bucks County Judge Jeffrey L. Finley said the actions of Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus were unimaginable as he sentenced them following their convictions on child endangerment charges. Daniel Stoltzfus, 44, who pleaded no contest, was sentenced to 3½ to seven years. Savilla Stoltzfus, 43, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to three to seven years. 

Authorities said the Lancaster County couple "gifted" one of their nine daughters to Lee Donald Kaplan, 52, because he helped them out of financial trouble after they broke away from the Amish community. Police arrested Kaplan at his home in Feasterville in June 2016 after finding 11 girls living there.

Kaplan allegedly admitted to police that he fathered the two youngest children – a 3-year-old and a 10-month-old – with the oldest girl, who was 18, according to CBS Philly. 

Several of the girls testified during Kaplan's sex assault trial in May that Kaplan had sex with them and they considered him their husband. The girls' mother testified she knew about the sexual activity between the man and her daughters but believed "it could be a good thing."

"The sentence was appropriate, obviously based on what she did," Bucks County Deputy District Attorney Kate Kohler told CBS Philly. "And as a parent, I don't know how you can do that to your child."

Prosecutors said Kaplan brainwashed the family, sought "power, manipulation and control," and created a world in which "child rape was the norm." Testifying at Kaplan's trial, Savilla Stoltzfus said that she and her family viewed Kaplan as a prophet.

When the family fell on hard times financially and were evicted from their Kirkwood home in 2009, the two older girls were sent to live with Kaplan, she said. The mother said the couple had promised Kaplan that their second-oldest daughter, then 9, would be his wife when she was older, according to Lancaster Online. But the mother said she understood they wouldn't have sex until the girl was 18.

According to Lancaster Online, the mother testified she was "a little shaken" when she found out in 2013 her oldest daughter, 14 at the time, was pregnant with Kaplan's child. She said she didn't know the two were in a relationship or that the daughter was pregnant until she was about to give birth, according to Philly.com. But she reportedly said she saw her daughter loved Kaplan and was well, and eventually she "accepted it as the way it is," according to Lancaster Online.

"As we all well know and understand, we're familiar with [Kaplan] and his ways, and we understand that he's always motivated to follow the leading of God," the mother reportedly testified.

Kaplan eventually made it clear he would take all six of the oldest girls as "wives," though the parents never specifically agreed to it, the mother testified, according to Philly.com. The mother said she too eventually moved in with Kaplan as one of his wives, Lancaster Online reports.

Kaplan reportedly believed his relationships with the six sisters were dictated by God through dreams, reports Philly.com.

Defense attorney Ryan Hyde said Kaplan was married to the oldest daughter in the family's eyes and the other children loved him.

Jurors convicted Kaplan on all 17 counts of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault and other offenses last month. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

The children are now in the custody of the state, reports CBS Philly. The couple's 18-year-old daughter had asked for leniency for her parents.