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Plea hearing for NY man accused of kidnapping 2 Amish girls

FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, deputies from the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department escort Nicole F. Vaisey, left, and Stephen M. Howells II, to their arraignment on first-degree kidnapping charges at Fowler Town Court in Fowler, N.Y. Howells, accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing two Amish girls in northern New York is due in court to change his plea of not guilty. Howells and girlfriend Vaisey were charged last year by federal prosecutors with sexually exploiting the Amish girls and four other children. (Melanie Kimbler-Lago/The Watertown Daily Times via AP) SYRACUSE OUT
FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, deputies from the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department escort Nicole F. Vaisey, left, and Stephen M. Howells II, to their arraignment on first-degree kidnapping charges at Fowler Town Court in Fowler, N.Y. Howells, accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing two Amish girls in northern New York is due in court to change his plea of not guilty. Howells and girlfriend Vaisey were charged last year by federal prosecutors with sexually exploiting the Amish girls and four other children. (Melanie Kimbler-Lago/The Watertown Daily Times via AP) SYRACUSE OUT FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2014 file photo, deputies from the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department escort Nicole F. Vaisey, left, and Stephen M. Howells II, to their arraignment on first-degree kidnapping charges at Fowler Town Court in Fowler, N.Y. Howells, accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing two Amish girls in northern New York is due in court to change his plea of not guilty. Howells and girlfriend Vaisey were charged last year by federal prosecutors with sexually exploiting the Amish girls and four other children. (Melanie Kimbler-Lago/The Watertown Daily Times via AP) SYRACUSE OUT

By Associated Press 1 min read

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – A man accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing two Amish girls in northern New York is due in court to change his plea of not guilty.

Stephen Howells and girlfriend Nicole Vaisey were charged last year by federal prosecutors with sexually exploiting the Amish girls and four other children.

Trial for both is set for July 6 on charges they coerced minors to make pornographic videos.

Howells is to be in court Friday for a change-of-plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby in Syracuse.

Howells and Vaisey also face state kidnapping charges.

The Amish girls, then 7 and 12, were abducted Aug. 13 from their family’s roadside farm stand. They were released the next day.