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LANCASTER COUNTY, PA -14-year-old Amish girl 'gifted' to man 33 years her senior in exchange for financial help: court hears. "Fourteen," the young woman responded when asked: How old was she when she began having sex with Lee Kaplan, a man 33 years her senior? She was 14 when she moved in with him, she testified, 15 when their first child was born, and 17 when the second one came. Police said the adults claimed the teenager was given to Kaplan at 14 in exchange for his having helped the Stoltzfuses out of financial ruin, but Savilla Stoltzfus' attorney has disputed that account. He also has said he will seek to sever the cases.

LANCASTER, PA - Daniel Stoltzfus, 43, and his wife Savilla Stoltzfus, 42, both of 10 Locust Lane in Quarryville, are accused of providing their then 14-year-old daughter to Lee Kaplan as part of a 2012 agreement. Daniel Stoltzfus told police he "gifted" his daughter to Kaplan, 51, of 428 old Street Road, Feasterville, as a thank you for helping his family out of financial ruin.

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From the time I was a young Amish boy, I thought that I wouldn't mind being a preacher. In my early teens, I memorized large portions of scripture in German, and practiced quoting them as I heard them in church, imitating my favorite preachers. As I grew older, the desire to do something for God grew stronger. I wanted to rise above the ordinary, dull life I seemed to be destined for.

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DRUMORE, PA - Father, 2 sons charged in sex assaults of 3 girls at Drumore Twp. home. Ephraim Zook and Daniel Zook are each accused of assaults involving one girl while Ivan Zook allegedly assaulted two of the girls, court papers show. The girls ranged in age from 6 to 14 at the time of the alleged assaults.

University Park, PA - Amish upbringing influences Shenango graduate. Raised in an Amish community in Pennsylvania until the age of 23, Linda Byler, a 4.0 student who graduated from Penn State Shenango in December 2015, knew at a very young age that she would leave the old-order sect to pursue her dreams and live a life that included more than what limited options were available to her. “I really did not mind working in the fields,” said Byler. “Sure, it could sometimes be exhausting, but there is something very satisfying about working together as a team and accomplishing a difficult task.

DECATUR, IN - More than 100 Amish men, many of them bishops in their church, along with a handful of members from the English community, attended a public informational session at the Berne Senior Center Monday night on the possible implementation of a wheel tax in Adams County. What is commonly referred to as a wheel tax is actually two different taxes: a wheel tax and an excise surtax. The excise surtax applies to passenger vehicles, motorcycles, motorbikes and trucks weighing less than 11,000 pounds. The wheel tax applies to larger vehicles like semis, buses, recreational vehicles and trailers.

HOPEWELL, PA - If at first you don’t succeed at harassing a farmer out of business, try again…and again…and again. That has been the tack the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Hopewell Township have taken since 2012 against Amish farmer and FTCLDF member Chris Zook. All four actions against the farmer have stemmed from Chris Zook’s building of a new barn on his farm to replace the original one that had been destroyed in a 2011 fire. Hopewell Township issued Zook a permit to rebuild his barn, but both the Township and the Commonwealth objected to Zook using part of the barn as a retail store.

LANCASTER, PA. - Medical professionals are trying to minimize the number of farm fatalities in Lancaster County. The county leads the state in fatal farm incidents with more than 60 deaths since 2000. In 2011, a team from Lancaster General Hospital visited an Amish farm to see what was causing so many injuries. Children, they found, were falling through barn hay holes, rectangular openings in the structure’s upper level that provide ventilation and are used in the feeding of cattle below. The holes can be as high as 10 to 15 feet off the ground.

In 2009, the Amish community was rocked by the murder of one of their own, Barbara Weaver, in Apple Creek, Ohio. Even more shocking was when her husband, Eli, was charged with aggravated murder. It was only the third time an Amish man was suspected of killing his wife in the 250 years the Amish have lived in America. On the day of her murder, Weaver’s alibi was solid — he was fishing with friends. But neighbors and family kept mentioning one name: Barb Raber.

ELKHART, IN - Nearly 400 members of Elkhart County's Amish community recently learned about the dangers, warning signs and law enforcement efforts related to the illegal drug epidemic. "They are simply being proactive and I applaud them for that," said State Police Sgt. Trent Smith, spokesman for the Bremen post. "This is something that they have done in the past with other agencies. The difference being the entire community was present, parents and children at the same time."

ARTHUR, IL - Larry Schlabach, a former member of the Amish community turned pyrotechnic, spends all year preparing for it. A homemade cannon with bowling balls as ammunition gave Schlabach, his brothers and his cousins — all of whom were raised Amish — their start in pyrotechnics. Many members of the nearby Old Order Amish population — about 4,500 strong — sit atop the roofs of their sheds, barns and houses to watch the fireworks and flames.

I was born and raised in a Beachy Amish community. I didn’t really think much about growing up in the Amish culture; it seemed normal to me. My father was always very preoccupied and distant, but my mother was different; she was loving and very understanding. Considering that my mother had eleven children and still made each of us feel special always made me feel like I had the perfect mom.

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HARRISBURG, PA – An Amish couple have won an appeal against the Sugar Grove Sewer Authority that will allow them to connect to the township’s sewer system in the way that is least restrictive to their religious beliefs. The recent order by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania follows an appeal submitted by Sugar Grove Township residents Barbara L. Yoder and Joseph I. Yoder.

SOUTH AMERICA - The Amish branched out last year with new settlements in Bolivia, Argentina and Canada as their numbers continued to grow and a high percentage of young people opted to remain within the religious community, which eschews many modern conveniences. The sect's total current population is about 308,000 and has grown about 18 percent over the past five years.

NAPPANEE, IN — It's a place you may not expect to hear about substance abuse. But there's a push to get the word out in the Amish community. "There is drug problems among the plain community," said a community member. "I know of a young gal that's actually being challenged right now because of that."

MARYDEL, DE - Two individuals have been charged with burglarizing more than 20 Amish residences, garages, and sheds, Delaware State Police announced Friday. According to authorities, Harvey M. Coblentz, 26, formerly Amish himself, and his girlfriend, Peggy S. Wright, 31, both of Hartly, were immediately suspects in the thefts.

CALGARY, CANADA - I was handed this book by its authors during my recent trip to Canada. They came from Montana to join me in Calgary and I had time to hear part of their story of moving out of the Amish culture and finding greater freedom in Christ. Plain Faith: A Story of Tragedy, Loss, and Leaving the Amish by Irene and Ora Jay Eash with Tricia Goyer, is a fascinating read about truth awakening in the human heart and that putting them in conflict with the religious tradition they grew up in.

FEASTERVILLE, PA - Lee Kaplan was arrested at his home in Pennsylvania on Thursday morning after child welfare workers and police conducted a surprise visit based on an anonymous tip. They found girls between the ages of 6 months and 18 years living in the house in Bucks County. All are believed to be Amish. Daniel Stoltzfus told investigators he and his wife were the parents of the 18-year-old, whom they "gifted" to Kaplan as thanks for helping his family out of "financial ruin", according to Kaplan's criminal complaint.

RICHMOND, IN - Amish communities from three Indiana counties met Monday night to talk about a common problem: heroin. Amish elder Ben Stoltzfus says the problem of opioid addiction hasn't spared his otherwise isolated community.

I received a letter from you yesterday. Since I know you all of your brothers and sisters and parents and have now also gotten to see you, it almost seems like you were also a part of us. I think and wish you would be and should be. Our parents split away from the large Mennonite Church back in 1940’s about C.O. camps; they found the big church dishonest then. Joe Wenger was the bishop of the big church, so that church is called the Wenger church to this day. The Wenger people got more and more modern; they had electricity, phones, and tractors, about everything but the TV and cars. Our church got the nickname 35er’s because there were not many members. Our people were more minded to keep the old ways, like horse farming, no electricity, etc. Satan is not satisfied where peace is, though, and works to destroy it. The 35er’s have a very sad history with many splits, and also many have been sadly carried away with styles and fashions of the world, so that you can hardly tell them apart from the world.

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LANCASTER, Pa. — A Nottingham man will serve at least one month in prison for causing one of the most "bizarre" DUI crashes officials say they have ever seen. Thomas Candler Felts was convicted of giving Amish teens beer and yelling "Rumspringa" at them before crashing into their buggy with his car at a Turkey Hill store on Route 272 in August.

BETHANY, MO.- The Missouri Attorney General's office is helping with the prosecution of an Amish minister from Kentucky charged in his wife's 2006 death in Missouri. Borntreger, of Summer Shade, Kentucky, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Anna Yoder Borntreger in late 2006 in Missouri.

I was born to Amish parents in Geauga County, Ohio in 1982. When I was six years old, we moved to a new community in Hart County, Kentucky because my parents didn’t like the partying and immoral behavior going on among the youth in our previous community. I remember getting the impression that we were better than those in the old community.

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I grew up Amish and was raised in a good family. I am the oldest of seven. Growing up, I always had questions and tons of them: "Why do we do certain things? Why are our clothes all to be of darker colors? If God created so many different colors why was it wrong for us to have them and not others who lived in more liberal communities?" The answer was usually the same: "Because that's what our forefathers did. That's how they were raised, and if it was good enough for them it's good enough for us." That answer never satisfied me.

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KENTUCKY - Sam Girod, an Amish farmer from Kentucky, has been running his small business selling natural salves made from herbs such as chickweed (which seem to help relieve many skin conditions, including allergic rashes, psoriasis, poison oak and even skin cancers) for 15 years. He has no criminal record, is 56 years old and the father to 12 children and yet the FDA wants to put him in jail- for up to 48 years. Yet another story that I couldn’t make up.

PEOLI, OH -An Amish woman, who had spent four days fasting and praying in the woods of southern Tuscarawas County, was found safe Friday afternoon after searchers spent two days looking for her. Family problems prompted the woman to go into the woods, Campbell said. After talking to her husband and children, individually and as a group, she left home Monday wearing a dress and no shoes.

Auburn, KY - Objections to a local ordinance requiring waste collection bags for large animals persist in Auburn, which has resulted in a glut of cases in the Logan County court system. Seven defendants, all members of Auburn's Amish community, made appearances Thursday in Logan District Court in relation to 10 separate citations for failing to equip their horses with bags to collect their droppings.

PENNSYLVANIA - This year, a Super PAC has already been established to stir up Amish support for Republican candidate Donald Trump, who is neck-and-neck with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in early polls in states like Pennsylvania. But the Amish community's support is far from a given, and its history at the polls complicated to say the least.

SHIPSHEWANA and TOPEKA, IN - Five Amish teens are facing alcohol related charges after they were caught driving 110 mph on U.S. 31 in Northern Indiana on Friday night. The teens may have been on their rumspringa, an Amish rite of passage teenagers take to decide if they want to stay with the church or not, said Indiana State Police Officer Ben Reason.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say twin brothers detonated improvised explosive devices in Pennsylvania over two weeks, damaging several buildings. Authorities say the twins also detonated explosives inside an Amish phone shed in Colerain Township, in a Strasburg Township produce shed, and inside a West Fallowfield Township well pump shed.