MEDIA, Pa. (AP) -- A former assistant pastor of a southeastern Pennsylvania church faces sentencing on charges that he sexually assaulted young girls nearly three decades ago.

After a plea deal with Delaware County prosecutors, 76-year-old Gerald Klever is scheduled for sentencing Friday before Common Pleas Judge James Nilon Jr.

Klever was arrested at his Catalina Foothills home in suburban Tucson in January 2007.

Authorities say Klever raped and sexually assaulted girls in his youth group while an assistant pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield between 1977 and 1983. One woman says he raped her one time at a pool party and another time after tying her to a bed at a church retreat.

Klever left Pennsylvania in 1983. In 1988, he resigned as pastor of Sixth Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., amid accusations of sexual misconduct.

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Information from: Philadelphia Daily News, http://www.philly.com

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