Amish Couple 'Gifted Teen To Alleged Rapist'

An Amish couple have been arrested on allegations they "gifted" their 14-year-old daughter to a man who allegedly abused her in return for helping her parents financially.

Lee Kaplan, 51, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is charged with sexually assaulting the teen from 2012-15.

The girl, now 18, told police she and Kaplan had two daughters, a three-year-old and a six-month-old.

Child welfare workers acting on a tip-off on Thursday found 12 girls between the ages of six months and 18 years living in Kaplan's home in the town of Feasterville.

Some of the children were reportedly hiding in the small house.

"We kept finding more children," Lower Southampton police Lt John Krimmel told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"It's just a crazy situation."

All the girls are thought to be Amish.

Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler told the Inquirer that Kaplan had "brainwashed" the girls.

The 18-year-old's father, Daniel Stoltzfus, 43, is charged with conspiracy of statutory sexual assault and child endangerment.

Her mother, Savilla Stoltzfus, 42, is also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Kaplan is charged with 10 sexual offences, eight of them felonies, including statutory rape.

The Stoltzfuses, who were reportedly estranged from their Amish community, told police the other nine children in Kaplan's house were theirs.

According to an affidavit, Daniel Stoltzfus told police he gave his daughter to Kaplan after he saved them from financial ruin.

Stoltzfus told the authorities he carried out some online research and concluded what he was doing was legal.

Kaplan and the Stoltzfuses are each being held on $1m bail.

Neighbour Jen Bets told a local NBC station she was the one who tipped off police.

"It's never the wrong time to do the right thing," the 37-year-old mother-of-two said. "There were signs."

"(She was) too young to be the wife, too old to be holding his hand."