"No bail for woman in Amish girls’ kidnapping in N.Y." Associated Press August 22, 2014
FOWLER, N.Y. — An investigator said Thursday that a northern New York couple used a dog to lure two Amish sisters from their family farm stand with a plan to turn them into slaves.
Sergeant Brooks Bigwarfe of the St. Lawrence County sheriff’s office said Nicole Vaisey admitted she and boyfriend Stephen Howells Jr. got the girls to their car with an offer to pet the dog and he shoved the 7-year-old and 12-year-old sisters in.
Bigwarfe said she told him they shackled the girls and intended to turn them into slaves. He says they released the girls about 24 hours later, frightened by news reports.
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District Attorney Mary Rain said the children were sexually abused by the ‘‘sexual predators.’’
But defense attorney Bradford Riendeau said Vaisey was the slave of Howells. ‘‘She was in a master-slave relationship,’’ he said. “I believe she’s not as culpable as he is.’’
Howells waived his right to a preliminary hearing and his case will go to a grand jury.
There was no answer late Tuesday at the county public defender’s office, which is representing Howells. The couple are being held without bail.
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Related: Amish Absolution
