Two arrested in kidnapping of two upstate New York Amish sisters

[August 16, 2014]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of two young Amish sisters from their family farm stand near New York's border with Canada, the county district attorney said on Friday.

The two suspects, Stephen Howells II, 39, and Nicole Vaisey, 25, were taken into custody and each face two counts of first-degree kidnapping, St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain said.

They are being processed by county sheriffs and are expected to be arraigned later Friday night, Rain said. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years to life, she added.

The girls, Fannie Miller, 12, and Delila Miller, 6, were returned home in good health on Thursday after their disappearance on Wednesday night.

The girls' captors dropped them off in front of a stranger's home in the hamlet of Bigelow then fled, Rain said. The man living inside recognized the pair as the missing girls and drove them back to their family farm stand in the rural Amish community of Oswegatchie, some 10 miles from the Canadian border, she said.

The Amish, who live throughout the United States, with the nation's largest community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, are known for shunning modern conveniences.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Eric Beech)

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