Police arrested a 51-year-old Pennsylvania man Thursday after they discovered 12 girls in his home, including an 18-year-old who was allegedly "gifted" to him by her parents and with whom he fathered two children.
Authorities said the 18-year-old's father admitted to giving his daughter to Lee Kaplan after he helped the family out of financial ruin. He made the decision after online research led him to believe he could legally give his daughter, then 14 years old, to Kaplan, according to a police affidavit.
The girl told police Kaplan is the father of her two children, aged 6 months and 3 years.
Police on Thursday found 12 girls ranging in age from 6 months to 18 years old at Kaplan's Feasterville home when they responded to a call from a person concerned about the welfare of the girls, the affidavit said.
"The conditions in the house were fine," Lower Southampton Detective Sgt. Shane Hearn told the Bucks County Courier Times. "They were not undernourished. Kaplan has a farm there and chickens running all over the place. I guess they were living off the land."
He told the newspaper the underage children found at Kaplan's house had been removed and placed in protective custody.
Neighbor Jen Betz told WPVI she filed an official complaint after noticing multiple children at Kaplan's home. He had told neighbors no children were living at the house.
"I saw a couple girls last week standing in the driveway," Betz told WPVI. "They just looked unhappy and sad and again in the blue dresses, and I've been telling my husband for years something isn't right, something isn't right."
Kaplan faces a number of charges including statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault. The 18-year-old's father is charged with conspiracy of statutory sexual assault and children endangerment. His wife is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
All three are being held on $1 million bail.
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