Man charged for raping girl ‘gifted’ to him by parents

The authorities in Pennsylvania have charged a man with raping a teenage girl with whom he fathered two children after receiving her as a “gift” from her parents, US media said on Saturday.

The police arrested Lee Kaplan (51) in the town of Feasterville — around 30 km northeast of Philadelphia — on Thursday on charges including statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The teen’s parents and her nine sisters also lived in Kaplan’s home. The 18-year-old teen was the oldest among her siblings.

Child welfare authorities removed the young mother, her two young daughters and her nine sisters.

The victim’s parents, Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus, gave her to Kaplan four years ago in gratitude “for helping (the) family out of financial ruin”, according to criminal complaints.

She was 14 years old at the time. Her two children are three-year-old and six-months-old.

Her parents have also been arrested, news reports said. They and Kaplan are being held on $1 million bail each.

A neighbour said that she had long felt that “something isn’t right” at a Bucks county home.

Jen Betz of Feasterville said that she called authorities because she was concerned about the young girls she saw outside the house, which she said had boarded windows and high weeds.

“They’re so sad and fearful every time I see them. That’s what made me call,” she said on Saturday. “I’ve been telling my husband for years ‘Something isn’t right, something isn’t right.’”

District attorney David Heckler said that the parents of the girl Kaplan is accused of assaulting told the police they were going to lose their farm until Kaplan “came out of the blue and saved them from financial ruin”.

Authorities allege in an affidavit that the girl’s father told an officer he gave his 14-year-old daughter to Kaplan after researching the legality of such an action online.

On Saturday, the police and dogs scoured the home’s backyard for further evidence.