Ubaldo Ocasio

Former pastor Ubaldo Ocasio, center, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after a jury convicted him of sexually abusing girls in his West Side congregation. a plea deal Tuesday that would have put him in prison for 29 years. Ocasio is shown here with his defense attorney, Jaye Schlachet, and an interpreter.

(Cory Shaffer, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The former pastor of a small West Side church was sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing young girls in his congregation.

Ubaldo Ocasio's first chance at parole will be after 128 years in prison, in the year 2143.

Cuyahoga County Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold handed down the sentence after a jury found Ocasio, 52, guilty on one count of rape, six counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of kidnapping, two counts of sexual battery and four counts of endangering children.

The jury also found Ocasio to be a sexually violent predator.

The sentence comes after Ocasio rejected a plea deal on the eve of his trial that would have put him in prison for 29 years.

Ocasio was convicted of sexually abusing four girls in his congregation at Iglesias Misionera Casa de Miscordia, a small Pentecostal church he helped found in a storefront on Clark Avenue near West 49th Street.

His victims were between the ages of 11 and 16.

Prosecutors said Ocasio gave children in his congregation rides in his church van from their home to the church. He convinced the children's parents that he was babysitting them at the church.

Ocasio began groping the victims inside the van in 2011 and eventually forced one of the girls to have sex with him, prosecutors said.

Much of the abuse occurred in the van, but prosecutors also said one attack happened in the basement of the church.

The abuse was discovered when Ocasio showed up at the school that one of the girls attended, prosecutors said. The principal became suspicious and called police.

Prosecutors first charged Ocasio in February with raping one child, but as Cleveland police and prosecutors continued investigating Ocasio, more children came forward as victims, prosecutors said.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney John Colan offered to drop several charges the day before Ocasio's trial was to begin in a deal meant to spare the victims from testifying, Colan said.

Ocasio rejected the deal because he was maintaining his innocence, Ocasio's attorney, Jaye Schlachet, said at the time.