A former Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor is back in Tucson, a prosecutor says, after his extradition to Pennsylvania on charges that he raped two girls at the church he led there more than 20 years ago.
The charges against Gerald L. Klever, 75, stem from incidents against teenage girls that prosecutors claim occurred while he was the assistant pastor of First Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Springfield, Pa.
Delaware County prosecutor Sheldon Kovach said Tuesday that Klever was released on $250,000 bail and is back in Tucson. Klever did not return a phone call to his Tucson home.
After a preliminary hearing last week, Klever was charged with three counts of rape, and three counts of "involuntary deviate sexual intercourse," which refers to oral sex, Kovach said. Klever is also facing misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure, indecent assault and corruption of minors.
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About two dozen members of First Presbyterian attended the preliminary hearing to support the women who testified, said interim pastor Byron Leasure, who described the hearing as "very powerful, riveting." The women say they were sexually assaulted while they attended a youth group led by Klever.
Police in Springfield say 12 women have contacted First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, where Klever was assistant pastor between 1977 and 1983, to report sexual misconduct by Klever. The current charges, however, apply to two women who were 16 and 17 when the incidents occurred, said Kovach, explaining that due to the statute of limitations, Klever cannot be prosecuted for misconduct alleged to have occurred before July 12, 1980.
Klever's next court date is an arraignment set for June 28. His Philadelphia-based attorney, Ted Simon, did not return a call seeking comment.
Klever no longer has credentials as an ordained Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor, and officials with the Presbyterian Church in Tucson have no record of Klever's attending or working in any local churches.
Klever has given local seminars in how to win a government contract, and in a letter to the editor he wrote to the Arizona Daily Star, published on Dec. 12, 2003, he identified himself as a "performance-based contracts consultant." A biography of Klever written for a University of Arizona seminar he gave in 2004 says he holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
He was arrested in his Tucson home Jan. 31 by members of a multiagency fugitive unit and detectives from Springfield Township and was later extradited to Pennsylvania for prosecution.
