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Girls taken from Bucks house say they were not abused

They played musical instruments and took Hebrew lessons. They slept on basement air mattresses. And often, it turns out, their mother lived there with them.

They played musical instruments and took Hebrew lessons. They slept on basement air mattresses. And often, it turns out, their mother lived there with them.

But none had been abused, they told police this week. One even said she loved Lee Kaplan.

A week after officers found 12 girls living in Kaplan's Feasterville home, a trickle of new details added some clarity to the case - but also sparked more questions about what happened in the house on Old Street Road.

Kaplan, accused of statutory rape of the teen authorities say had been "gifted" to him by her parents, remained jailed. So, too, did Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus, on charges of endangering their own daughters.

But Savilla Stoltzfus' attorneys became the first to speak out, warning the public not to rush to judgment. And police sought to tamp down concerns and claims by neighbors that obvious signs of child abuse had been missed or ignored.

Investigators searched the home and interviewed all of the girls Monday and came away with no new proof or even allegations of sexual assault.

Kaplan, 51, is accused of fathering two daughters with the oldest girl in the house, now 18. She told detectives she considered him her spouse.

"She loved him and still does," said Robert Hoopes, director of public safety for the Lower Southampton Police Department.

Ten of the girls - the others range from 3 to 17 - are believed to be sisters.

Their parents' ties to Kaplan stretch more than a decade. Living in Quarryville, Lancaster County, the Stoltzfuses were once part of the Amish community.

But the couple went wayward after Daniel Stoltzfus accidentally killed an infant son while farming in 2001, his mother and other members of the Amish community told the Associated Press late last week.

By 2003, Stoltzfus and Kaplan - who was Jewish, not Amish - had started a business relationship, one allegedly frowned upon by the Amish, according to a 2009 lawsuit the Stoltzfuses filed against members of the Amish community.

Later in 2003, the couple left the church.

The complaint, which was later dismissed, also alleged that the sect made reports to police that Savilla Stoltzfus had been held "against their will" by her husband and that the couple was "abusing their children by not being able to properly care for them." The Stoltzfuses called the claims false.

Kaplan, meanwhile, seems to have spent much of his life in suburban Philadelphia.

A 1982 yearbook from Cheltenham High School shows a Lee Kaplan with the same birthdate. Alumni from that time have told the Inquirer that Lee Kaplan is the same one arrested this month.

Marriage records show he was married to Virginia Albrecht, now of Philadelphia, in December 1993. She has not responded to requests for comment.

In October 2003, Stoltzfus and Kaplan founded a business together: D&K Metal Technologies, according to state filings. The scope of their business was unclear.

After renouncing the church, the couple fell on hard times, according to court records. By 2009, they had lost their home.

Along the way, Kaplan was helping them, becoming more involved as their debt grew. In 2012, police say, the Stoltzfuses gave him their eldest daughter in gratitude.

She was 14.

The other girls also moved in. In Kaplan's home, she and her sisters lived a hidden existence - but one the parents told authorities they were "grateful" for.

"They're saying, 'He's a wonderful guy, he's helping us take care of our kids,'" said Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler.

Daniel Stoltzfus told authorities he had concluded it was fine to give away his daughter after looking it up on the internet, said Heckler.

Bequeathing daughters is not an Amish practice.

"Giving away children to someone else, especially to settle a debt, I never ever heard of anything like that," Mindy Starns Clark, author of Plain Answers about the Amish Life, said Friday. "There's nothing Amish about this at all."

Neighbors on Old Street Road told tales of finding Kaplan a bothersome neighbor. Some had wondered about the girls, who they occasionally saw doing chores outside.

Kaplan, police said, generally tried to keep people out of the house, once turning the lights out when police arrived and another time telling the fire marshal not to come in after a chimney fire.

Jen Betz, the neighbor who called in the tip to ChildLine that eventually led to his arrest, said she was concerned about the girls at his house, particularly after learning they included younger kids and an infant.

Though local police had received some previous complaints about Kaplan, they said they were not about child abuse, and neighbors either said they had never contacted police about Kaplan or had called with a different complaint.

Now, the girls are in a "safe house" in Lancaster County and will eventually be placed in a home, Hoopes said. A welfare hearing was held last week.

The 18-year-old has her two children with her and is also in Lancaster County, Hoopes said.

Savilla Stoltzfus' lawyers last week asked a judge to reduce her $1 million bail. A judge set a hearing for July 14, said Cary B. Hall, her attorney.

Hearings for Kaplan and the Stoltzfuses on the criminal charges are scheduled for Aug. 2.

Hoopes said it could take a month or longer before authorities finish going through evidence collected at Kaplan's house. They plan to question the girls again in several days.

"They said they were fine," Hoopes said, but, "We don't know if they could be in duress."

jmcdaniel@philly.com

610-313-8205

@McDanielJustine

Staff writer Michaelle Bond contributed to this article.