A former church deacon accused of sexually abusing two young church members has been indicted.

A Jefferson County grand jury issued the indictments against Collin Galletly Jr., who was a deacon at McElwain Baptist Church in Birmingham until the allegations against him surfaced against late last year. He is charged with two counts of first-degree sex abuse and one count of sex abuse of a child under the age of 12. Notice of the indictments was made public Thursday.

Irondale police in June announced the charges against the 69-year-old Galletly. Det. Sgt. Michael Mangina said the investigation began in November 2017 when the legal guardian of two girls, ages 9 and 12, filed a report with the Irondale Police Department claiming the children were inappropriately touched by a church deacon.

The guardian and the children live in Irondale. Mangina said the alleged sexual misconduct happened both at the church and elsewhere. Galletly, he said, was tutoring the girls in reading and mathematics.

Galletly was suspended from his role as a deacon once the investigation began, but the victims still attend the church, which is located at 4445 Montevallo Road.

Mangina said he couldn't go into much detail because of the nature of the crimes and the age of the victims. "The best way to describe his inappropriate behavior is weird, creepy and not normal,'' he said at the time charges were originally obtained against Galletly. "There's no doubt in my mind this guy was stopped before he did something even worse."

Galletly surrendered to the Jefferson County Jail on June 4 and was released two hours later after posting $30,300 bond.

The Rev. Jon Glass, senior pastor at McElwain, previously said church officials were heartbroken when they heard the accusations against Galletly. "Our hearts go out to the children and family that have been victimized this abuse.The safety and security of our children is a top priority at McElwain,'' Glass said in a statement to AL.com. "When we learned about these actions in November of last year, we were immediately in contact with the local law enforcement. We informed Mr. Galletly that he could no longer attend church services at McElwain Baptist Church until this matter is concluded."

"We have worked with the victims to provide support and encouragement to them,'' he said, "and will continue to do. We are praying for healing for the victims in this case."

A trial date for Galletly has not yet been set.