Man Found Living with 12 Girls Allegedly ‘Groomed’ Them to Think He Was a Prophet

While Lee Kaplan lived with 12 girls in his Pennsylvania home , authorities say, he allegedly brainwashed them to believe he was a prophet of God — grooming several of them for sex and calling six of them his “wives.”
Prosecutors this week revealed these and other harrowing details of the girls’ years of alleged mental and sexual abuse, as the investigation of Kaplan continues and he faces multiplying charges.
“This guy set up a virtual feeding ground of victims,” Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub says . “He preyed upon one by one.”
Kaplan, who was charged with sex crimes after police rescued the girls from his home in June, is now accused of not only fathering two children
with the eldest of the girls but also sexually abusing five of her younger sisters, Weintraub announced on Monday.
That same day Kaplan pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen new charges, including rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and
indecent assault, Weintraub says.
“He took these children into his home not too far from where we stand here today,” Weintraub alleged at a news conference. “Over time he played
on their trust and affection for him. He groomed them to believed that he was a religious, cult-like figure for whom they should submit their will.”
Weintraub says that Kaplan allegedly
brainwashed the girls, using tactics similar to Stockholm syndrome, by taking advantage of their innocence and abusing his position of authority.
“They to accept it,” Weintraub says. “I’m saddened.
I’m sickened, but I’m not surprised.”
Kaplan, 51, was originally charged with statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and aggravated indecent assault after authorities rescued the girls, who ranged in age
from six months to 18 years old, from his home in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. (Authorities were tipped off anonymously.)
After Kaplan’s arrest, the eldest of the girls told investigators she was 14 when her parents handed her over to Kaplan after he helped them financially.
She told police she and Kaplan have two children together: a 3 year-old girl and a 10-month-old infant.
The eldest girl also said that years before moving into his home, Kaplan had his own bedroom in her parents’ Lancaster County home in Pennsylvania. She alleged that the sexual abuse
started one night when she was 10. It didn’t stop until her rescue this summer.
Nine of the 11 other girls living in
Kaplan’s home were her sisters, according to authorities; the remaining two were her daughters.
Newly released court documents obtained shows the sisters, who were quiet during initial interviews, recently opened up to investigators about their years of living with Kaplan.
Authorities had been unsure if he had harmed any of the 11 other girls, but six of the sisters, including the eldest, told police they were Kaplan’s “wives,”
according to the documents.
The youngest is 10.