Daniel Stoltzfus, left, has been sentenced for 'giving' his oldest daughter away to Lee Donald Kaplan, right. (AP Photo/Megan Trimble)
Two Pennsylvania parents who gave their oldest daughter to a cult-like figure who sexually assaulted her and her five sisters have each been sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
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.
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Investigators said the parents “gifted” their oldest daughter, a teen, to Lee Donald Kaplan, 52, after he helped them out of financial trouble when they broke with their Amish faith.
Kaplan fathered two children with the girl, the first when she was 14. She is now in her late teens.
The girls' mother, Savilla Stoltzfus, was also sentenced on child endangerment charges. (AP Photo/Megan Trimble)
Jurors convicted Kaplan on all 17 counts of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault and other offenses last month, a year after a neighbor's tip prompted authorities to search Kaplan's Feasterville home.
During the trial, seven girls testified that they considered Kaplan to be their husband. Prosecutors argued Kaplan brainwashed the family, casting himself as a prophet, and created a world in which “child rape was the norm.”
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The girls’ mother has said she knew about the sexual activity between her daughters and Kaplan, but believed “it could be a good thing.”
The girls’ father pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 3 1/2 to seven years, while the mother pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three to seven years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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