Twelve girls, ranging in age from six months to 18 years old, were found Thursday inside the home of a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, man, who has been charged with sexually assaulting one of the girls from 2012 to 2015, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Lower Southampton Police Department.
One of the alleged victims, now 18, told police she is the mother of two of the girls in the house and that the suspect, Lee Kaplan, fathered both, including the six-month-old, the complaint said.
Police are also investigating an allegation that the teenage mother was sold by her parents to Kaplan. The parents, who live in Lancaster County, are in custody, police said."This child gave birth to two other children through an inappropriate relationship," Lower Southampton Lt. John Krimmel said.
Kaplan, 51, lives in the 400 block of Old Street Road in Feasterville, where he and the children were found, according to the complaint. He bought the home, which was built in 1926, back in 1988 according to county real estate records.Kaplan remains jailed on $1 million bail. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
Neighbor Jen Bets said she made the tip call to authorities, bringing them to the home.
"It's never the wrong time to do the right thing," Bets told NBC10's Christian Cazares. "There were signs."
"(She was) too young to be the wife, too old to be holding his hand," Bets said. She would often see Kaplan walking down the street with girls, holding hands with one of them.
"It took too long," Bets said of response to the home, which she said she had spoken with nieghbors and police in the past about. "I just want them to get help and get back and be happy. They're so sad and fearful everytime I see them. That's what made me call."
NBC10.com is not identifying the parents, who also are in custody and being held on $1 million bail, to maintain the alleged victim of a sexual assault's anonymity.Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said the parents, who live in Lancaster County, claim all of the children are theirs.
"They purport to be the parents of all the children, but I don't know if we believe them," Heckler said.
He said he could not say how long the children had been at Kaplan's house.
"It will be until into next week before I can stand in front of cameras and say X, Y, Z happened," Heckler said. "We have miles to go."
The police complaint said Kaplan "had told other neighbors that no children live there."
But one nearby resident, Denise Horst, said she saw the girls often.
"I've ridden by this house (and) I've seen young girls, various ages of children, dressed mostly in Amish clothing," Horst said. "Often afraid, like they would once he'd come out of the house, the male would come out, they'd go running into the house." She said she also saw one of the young girls pregnant.
"I was wondering what was going on," Horst said. "It looked like these girls were scared." Lower Southampton police said that police did not find any identifying documents for any of the girls.
"We are still investigating that. Bucks County is investigating that along with other agencies to help identify their genealogy and who their parents actually are," Krimmel said, adding that all are now in protective custody.
Culled from NBC news
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