article: A couple accused of kidnapping two Amish girls from a produce stand before shackling and sexually abusing them have been offered a plea deal that would spare the girls from testifying. Stephen Howells, 39, and his 25-year-old girlfriend Nicole Vaisey, from Hermon, New York, were charged last summer with sexually exploiting the Amish girls and other children. They each face kidnapping and federal child exploitation charges after police say they abducted the girls, then seven and 12, from their family's farm roadside vegetable stand on August 13. On Tuesday, St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain said that the defendants were advised of the strength of the evidence and offered an agreement to plead guilty in both cases. Accused: Stephen Howells, 39, and his 25-year-old girlfriend Nicole Vaisey have been offered a plea deal after being charged last summer with sexually exploiting two Amish girls and other children . Guilty pleas would mean the victims wouldn't have to testify, including others who are not publicly known, which Rain said is one of her biggest concerns. She declined to disclose the terms offered so it is not clear how much time the duo would serve. Their federal trial has been reset for July 6 on charges they coerced minors to make pornographic videos, and they also face kidnapping charges in state court. The Amish girls were abducted from the stand in rural Oswegatchie, near the Canadian border. The incident touched off a massive search in the community of about 4,000 people, but authorities were hampered by a lack of photos of the girls. The Amish typically avoid modern technology, and the family had to work with an artist to produce a sketch of the older girl. Authorities say the girls were shackled to a bed and sexually abused before they were released 24 hours later and turned up safe at the door of a house in Bigelow, New York, belonging to Jeffrey and Pamela Stinson, who drove them home. Scene: The two girls, then aged seven and 12, were abducted from this farm roadside stand in August . Fears: Authorities can be seen at the family's farm after the abduction in Oswegatchie, near Canada's border . Heroic: A day after the girls were abducted and sexually assaulted, they were left at Jeffrey and Pamela Stinson's home 20 miles from their farm. The couple then returned the girls to their home . Howells, a registered nurse at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, and Vaisey, a former dog groomer, were arrested on August 15 after voluntarily going to the sheriff's office for an interview. This week, investigators told WWNY that Howells had planned to kill the girls and then bury their bodies to hide the crime but Vaisey convinced him to let them go. The original federal indictment said another young girl, now about 8 years old, also was sexually abused by the couple during the two-year span. Rain said the defendants have not yet responded to the offer and she declined to say how many victims they've identified. 'We are still gathering evidence,' she said. The latest federal indictment, based on computer videos taken from the couple's rural home in Hermon, where authorities say the Amish girls were held, listed six victims. Sources close to the investigation also told WWNY that sexually disturbing video images involving several handicapped adults were found on the couple's computer hard drive. 'Controlled': Howells dominated Vaisey in a sort of master-slave relationship, her lawyers have said . Locked up: Howells, formerly a registered nurse in Ogdensburg, New York, has three children of his own . Arrest: Vaisey, seen in August, and her boyfriend were arrested after voluntarily going for police interviews . 'Everyone is working toward finding a way of resolving this matter,' said Vaisey's attorney, Bradford Riendeau. 'A trial is one way.' He declined to comment on the report from WWNY television that Howells considered killing the Amish girls and Vaisey convinced him to let them go. Riendeau has maintained that Howells dominated Vaisey in a sort of master-slave relationship. During a hearing in August, Vaisey said that she and Howells had been on a 'shopping trip' for slaves on the day of the kidnapping. Calls to Howells' attorney, federal public defender Randi Bianco, were not immediately returned. The couple's house was later bought by a neighbor. It was burned down as a fire department training exercise and the debris cleared. Howells has three children of his own.
highlights: Stephen Howells and Nicole Vaisey, from Albany, New York, were charged last summer with sexually exploiting the Amish girls and other children .
  The Amish girls, aged 7 and 12, 'were abducted from a farm roadside stand, shackled and sexually abused before being released the next day'
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