The Pennsylvania Parents of six girls, who gave their daughters away to a cult-like leader to be sex slaves, have been sentenced to seven years in prison. The cult-like figure got one of the girls pregnant.
Parents sentenced to three to seven years
The parents, identified by authorities as Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus, were sentenced on Wednesday. Daniel pleaded no contest to the child endangerment conviction. He received three and a half years as a minimum up to seven years as a maximum. Savilla, on the other hand, pleaded guilty received three to seven years.
Father wants to reconnect with children
The 44-year-old father said that he regrets putting his daughters into a situation that made it difficult for them in the past years. He said that he hopes to reconnect with his kids after the sentence is served, New York Daily News reported. Their mother, 43, did not release any statement.
Out of the six daughters gifted to the cult-like figure, identified as Lee Donald Kaplan, one got pregnant. The oldest daughter, who was 14 at that time, gave birth to her first baby. He fathered another child with the oldest daughter, but it is unclear when she gave birth. The parents gifted their daughters to him as sex slaves because he helped them when they were financially distressed after they broke away from their Amish faith.
Judge wanted to give them heavier sentence
According to The New York Times, Judge Jeffrey L. Finley of Bucks County Court said he wanted to give a heavier sentence if he could, but that is the maximum number of years allowed by law. He noted that people who let their children be in another person’s bed are incomprehensible.
One of the daughters of the couple said in a statement that they love their parents dearly and it is difficult for them to be separated from them for such a long time.
The daughter asked for leniency and the judge not to increase their misery as a family.
Finley said he understands the heartbreak seeing their parents spend time in jail but the parents made that decision because it is inexcusable for them to force their children into becoming Sex Slaves no matter what the situation is.
Lee Donald Kaplan convicted
Kaplan, 52, was convicted last month on 17 counts of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, and other related offenses. He will be sentenced this September. The children are now aged nine to 19. They first had sexual contact with Kaplan when they were seven to 11 years old.
