Neighbors Said Something Wasn’t Right About This Guy

The Ariel Castro kidnappings had the world stunned and outraged that something like that could be right under our noses.
It seems to have happened again, this time in a Pennsylvanian neighborhood.

Despite a neighbor saying she had long felt that something “isnt right” about 51-year old Lee Kaplan, she hesitated to tell authorities. That is until recently.

Jen Betz of Feasterville, made the call because she was concerned about the young girls outside of Kaplan’s home. The house had been boarded with windows and high weeds.

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

Kaplan was found in his home by authorities, along with the girls, ranging in age from six months to 18 years.

The 18-year-old told police that she and Kaplan have a 3-year-old and a six-month-old.

Kaplan faces charges including statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and aggravated indecent assault.

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

At the time, the father of the then 14-year old girl, gave his daughter to Kaplan after researching the legality of it online. Daniel Stoltzfus is charged with conspiracy of statutory sexual assault and children endangerment. His wife, Savilla Stoltzfus, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. The couple and Kaplan were being held in lieu of $1 million bail. Court documents don’t list attorneys for them.

Lt. Ted Krimmel said officials are trying to verify who the parents of the other children found at the home are. When police entered the home Thursday, “all the children were running around,” Krimmel said. “Some were hiding. They were well-behaved, but scared.”

According to the teenager’s parents, the other nine girls in the house were also their children, but no birth certificates or Social Security cards could be located to confirm that.

Neighbor Bob Greenfield also said that Kaplan seemed “weird.” He also wishes that he had called authorities.

“You knew something was wrong,” he said. “It makes you feel bad. If I had said something a while ago, they would have come earlier.”