SYRACUSE -- United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian could announce additional charges Thursday against the pair charged in the August kidnapping of two Amish girls near Heuvelton.

Hartunian has scheduled a press conference regarding the “St. Lawrence County kidnapping case” for 11:30 a.m. in the U.S. Attorney’s Office on the ninth floor of 100 S. Clinton St.

However, no further information is being provided prior to the press conference, he said in a prepared statement released this afternoon.

St. Lawrence County Sheriff's deputies arrested Stephen M. Howells II, 39, and his girlfriend Nicole F. Vaisey, 25, each of 1380 County Route 21, Hermon, with first-degree kidnapping on Aug. 15 shortly after the two girls escaped and were returned home by a Richville couple.

At that time, county Sheriff Kevin Wells said additional charges were pending further consultation with the county District Attorney's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Syracuse.

Investigators are crediting one of the sisters, a 12-year-old, with giving information that led to her alleged abductor's arrest.

She and her six-year-old sister were kidnapped when the two girls went to a roadside stand to wait on a customer.