A former Pennsylvania pastor has been sentenced to up to 15 years in state prison for sexually molesting a 9-year-old while plying the boy with drugs, WNEP reports.

Norman (Ted) Faux started abusing the child at age 9 and continued to do so for years, even though Faux was HIV-positive, according to reports. During most of that time, he was pastor at Lake Ariel United Methodist Church.

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“The heinous acts that he’s committed, he needs to be incarcerated so that others can be protected,” Reverend Marian Hartman, who oversees United Methodist Church’s Susquehanna Conference including Lake Ariel, told WNEP.

The boy, now a young adult, told police the abuse continued up until Faux was arrested last year, according to CitizensVoice. It was discovered by his girlfriend, who checked his cell phone and found an obscene message from Faux in which he asked to perform oral sex on the victim.

It happened so frequently he was unable to tell police the number of times he was abused, according to CitizensVoice.

Faux had been forced to resign as minister for the church in 2011 when accused of molestation. Church officials held an internal trial. They told WNEP they had reported this case to authorities but the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution had already passed.

“He’s a despicable felon,” Assistant District Attorney Pat Robinson told WNEP. “He’s one of the most manipulative defendants that I’ve ever dealt with.”

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Upon his release at the end of his prison term, Faux must register as a sexually violent predator.

Watch the report from WNEP here:

