A woman accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two Amish girls last week with her boyfriend is now claiming that she only did it because of their "abusive and submissive" relationship.

According to the New York Times, 25-year-old Nicole F. Vaisey, is blaming her boyfriend, 39-year-old Stephen M. Howells II, for the kidnapping and subsequent sexual assault.

A lawyer for Ms. Vaisey, Bradford C. Riendeau, said that she made a "voluntary statement" to the authorities on Friday night but that he had been asked by the district attorney's office not to discuss its details. He said that he planned to argue in court, however, that Ms. Vaisey was in an abusive and submissive relationship with Mr. Howells. Mr. Riendeau said he had filed for a protective order on Ms. Vaisey's behalf against Mr. Howells. "She appears to have been the slave and he was the master," Mr. Riendeau said.

"She was not the lead person or a coequal in this at all," he said, referring to the plan to abuse children.

Police say the couple had plans to kidnap more children, but did not specifically target the victims because they were Amish as had previously been suggested.

"There was the definite potential that there was going to be other victims from these two," St. Lawrence County's sheriff told the Times. "They were looking for other opportunities to victimize."

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