Couple accused of kidnapping Amish sisters face child pornography charges
October 3, 2014 ·
These images provided by the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office shows the booking photo of Stephen Howells II, left, and Nicole Vaisey, who was arraigned late Friday Aug. 15, 2014 on charges they intended to physically harm or sexually abuse two Amish sisters after abducting them from a roadside farm stand. (AP Photo/St. Lawrence County Sheriff)
(Photo: AP Photo/St.Lawrence County Sheriff)
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Federal prosecutors have charged the couple accused of kidnapping two young Amish sisters in northern New York last month with sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.
The couple- 25-year-old Nicole Vaisey and 39-year-old and Stephen Howells Jr. of Hermon – have already pleaded not guilty to state kidnapping charges in St. Lawrence County, where the girls were abducted from their family farm stand in rural Oswegatchie, near the Canadian border.
They are being held without bail.
Based on statements from the couple, authorities say the 7- and 12-year-old girls were shackled and sexually abused before being released the next day in in a community about 20 miles from their home.
The FBI took the suspects’ computer equipment.
A federal indictment released Thursday in Syracuse says another young girl was also sexually abused.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/09/18/amish-sisters-kidnapping-child-pornography-new-york/15846913/
