May 16, 2008 9:00 pm US/Eastern
Former Pastor Pleads In Sexual Assault Case
MEDIA, Pa. (CBS 3) ―
The victims of a former Delaware County minister sought justice Friday as he admitted to sexual assault. Some victims spoke about the terrible crimes they suffered.
Some 30 years in the making, victims of the former Reverend Gerald Klever said he assaulted a number of victims, some of who were minors.
On Friday, he entered pleas in two of those cases.
"He's the one who is going to suffer now," victim Beth Fischetti said.
A mother's worst nightmare is how one victim described 76-year-old Gerald Klever.
The former pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Delaware County was in court on allegations of sexual abuse of minors. Church members said there were as many as 20 victims.
"He took advantage of my innocence and he did horrible things," Fischetti said.
Fischetti was 12 when she said Klever molested her.
The former pastor pled guilty to one charge of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with one victim and pled no contest to raping another.
"I want him to take responsibility for his actions. I want restitution. I want him to feel as badly as he made all of us feel over all these years," Fischetti said.
Fischetti was not officially part of the proceedings on Friday because Klever entered pleas in the cases of two other victims.
As part of the deal, he is likely to be sentenced to 10 years probation with the first year likely to be under house arrest with monitoring and $24,000 in restitution for counseling.
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