A former Morrisville pastor took his life Monday, a week before he was scheduled to go on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, who originally reported the crime to police in 1992.

Scott Sechrist, 61, was found dead inside his Bristol Township home, Bucks County prosecutor Jennifer Schorn confirmed Monday night. He left a suicide note maintaining his innocence, she added, but Schorn did not reveal the contents of the note.

Sechrist was awaiting trial on 20 counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a victim under age 16, as well as multiple counts of aggravated indecent assault and other related crimes. He was free on $500,000 unsecured bail.

Bristol Township reopened the investigation last October after receiving a referral from the Bucks County District Attorney’s office involving the sexual assault allegations, which allegedly took place between 1989 and 1992, according to court records.

The woman, who is now 34, alleges that she met Sechrist as a child, when her family became friends with his family through the Baptist church where Sechrist was pastor. Sechrist left that church in 1989; he had worked as a part-time pastor at a Christian church in Willingboro, New Jersey, police said.

The woman claimed that Sechrist started making inappropriate comments to her and grabbing her buttocks when she was around 10, police allege. Within a few months his behavior escalated to molesting, which progressed into sexual contact that continued for two years, the girl said.

The assaults took place in the woman’s family home in Bristol Township and occurred at least once a week and stopped after she reported the abuse to Bristol Township police at age 12.

At a March preliminary hearing for Sechrist, it was revealed that the Bucks County DA outfitted the woman with a wire and made secret audio recordings during a November meeting the woman requested to discuss the sexual abuse she allegedly endured as a child. Sechrist was among those who attended the meeting.

Portions of the audio recording were played during a March preliminary hearing for Sechrist including one where a male voice — identified as Sechrist — is heard saying that he wished he knew why he behaved the way he did.

“I thought about that for years. I babysat my nieces. I changed diapers,” the male voice said. “I don’t know why it was you ... I don’t know. I can’t answer that.”

Prosecutor Schorn said that her office had additional secretly recorded conversations from the meeting including a confession from Sechrist that she planned to use at the trial.

Also at the preliminary hearing, the woman testified the abuse continued until, in 1992, she confided in an older girl who attended her church. Bristol Township police then were notified, but charges were not filed because the woman recanted her story. Charges were brought earlier this year after the investigation was reopened.