Pennsylvania couple who gifted daughters as 'sex slaves' to cult-like figure sentenced to up to 7 years in prison

A Pennsylvania couple who "gifted" six daughters to a cult-like figure and forced them into a life of "sex slaves" were each sentenced to up to seven years in prison on Wednesday.

Authorities said Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus gave their oldest girl to Lee Donald Kaplan because 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.

"I regret having to put my children through what they have been through this past year and wish to reconnect with my children," Daniel Stoltzfus told the judge.

Daniel Stoltzfus, 44, who pleaded no contest to child endangerment, was sentenced to three and a half to seven years in prison. Savilla Stoltzfus, 43, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to three to seven years.

Bucks County Judge Jeffrey Finley said he would have given the couple longer sentences if he could.

"The idea, again, that an individual in any community would hand off their children into the bed of another person is just incomprehensible," Finley said.

Kaplan, 52, was convicted last month on 17 counts of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault and other offenses. Kaplan brainwashed the family and created a world in which "child rape was the norm," according to prosecutors.

Several girls testified that they considered Kaplan to be their husband, and their mother previously said that she was aware of the sexual relationships but believed "it could be a good thing."

One of the Stoltzfus girls read a statement Wednesday asking the judge to show leniency.

"We love our parents very dearly," the daughter said, according to Lancaster Online. "It is very hard for us to be separated from them for this long. It certainly will be a lot harder if the separation continues.

"Do not increase their misery," she added. "Do not increase our misery."

However, the judge said it was inexcusable for the couple to force the children into "a life of sex slaves."

"I understand their heartbreak at seeing their mother and their father in shackles, in cuffs, in prison garb," the judge told Savilla Stoltzfus. "You made that decision. You knew what you were risking."

"Daniel and Savilla both committed heinous acts against their children by allowing this to happen," Deputy District Attorney Mary Kate Kohler said, according to Lancaster Online. “They shouldn’t be around their children right now. The children need time to heal."

Kaplan's lawyer said the family considered Kaplan married to the oldest girl and he never abused the others. His sentencing hearing is set for September.

With News Wire Services