Suspects in Amish kidnap case indicted on sexual exploitation counts

An upstate New York couple accused last month of kidnapping two Amish girls sexually exploited a third girl as well, according to an indictment that also includes a child pornography charge.

The federal indictment released Thursday accuses Stephen Howells II, 39, and Nicole Vaisey, 25, of “enticing and coercing children to engage in sexual conduct and making a video recording of it,” U.S. Atty. Richard S. Hartunian said in a statement.

The indictment accuses the Hermon, N.Y., couple of conspiracy to sexually exploit two female children, sexual exploitation of one of those children and sexual exploitation of a third female child. It also accuses Howells of possessing child pornography.

Howells and Vaisey have been accused of taking the two Amish girls – sisters ages 12 and 6 – from their family’s roadside vegetable stand in August and dropping them off the next night in a nearby village.

The couple were arrested a day later and charged with first-degree kidnapping, to which they have pleaded not guilty. In New York the first-degree charge applies if kidnapping victims suffer an injury or sexual assault, St. Lawrence County Dist. Atty. Mary Rain said.

The Los Angeles Times and many other news organizations previously published the girls’ names, which were revealed when they first went missing, but The Times is now withholding their identities because of the sexual assault allegations.

According to the indictment, the third girl was born in 2006. It alleges that from approximately 2012 through 2014, Howells and Vaisey coerced her “to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct.”

Howells worked as a nurse at an area health clinic, and Vaisey was a dog groomer, a detective from the county Sheriff’s Office said last month. The couple had no prior arrests and have no children, he said.

If convicted on all counts, Howells faces up to 50 years in prison and Vaisey faces up to 30 years in prison, and they would have to register as sex offenders, Hartunian’s office said. They could be fined up to $250,000 on each count.

For news about crime and more, follow @raablauren on Twitter.