By Stephanie Innes and Dale Quinn
Arizona Daily Star [Tucson AZ]
February 2, 2007
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/167332
A former Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor from Pennsylvania was arrested in his Foothills home this week on charges that he raped a dozen young women who attended his church in the 1970s and '80s.
Gerald L. Klever, 75, is being held in the Pima County jail on a $500,000 bond, facing charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, indecent exposure and corruption of minors, according to the Springfield Police Department in Delaware County, Pa., where Klever once lived.
Klever has not been named as a suspect in any local abuse cases.
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| Gerald L. Klever faces Pa. rape charges |
Police in Springfield say 12 women have contacted First Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Springfield to report sexual misconduct by Klever. The church filed the complaints in spring 2006 and an investigation began.
Klever was the assistant pastor at the church from 1977 to 1983, police say.
"I didn't know him. The only comment we're making is that our commitment is to work for healing and justice for the victims," said Byron Leasure, the church's interim pastor.
Klever was arrested about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at a home in the 3800 block of North Hillwood Place, near North Sabino Canyon and East Cloud roads, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
Barkman said she did not know anything about the charges against Klever. She also did not know how long he'd lived in Tucson. Records at the Pima County Recorder's Office connect him to Tucson as early as 1996.
Members of a multi-agency fugitive unit and detectives from Springfield Township made the arrest, Barkman said.
Officials with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Tucson say they have no record of Klever attending or working at any local churches.
• Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or at sinnes@azstarnet.com.
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